More questions!
by Lady Snowflake
Summary: Sequel to Those bloody questions!. Aurelia forms a plan to get Steph and Ranger together.
1. Chapter 1

**Author:** **Ann (snowflakesandchrystals)**  
**Title:** **More questions!**

**Rating:** **Probably NC-17 for some language, some violence and a little smut at the end **

**Summary: Aurelia wants to get Stephanie and Ranger together and has several tricks up her sleeve to make it happen**

**Warning: See rating**

**Spoilers: Sequel to "Those bloody questions". Information from books 1 through 12 is used.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except for Aurelia and I do not make any money with them. Any medical, technical or other inconsistencies are my mistake and the books described in the story are fictional. **

_He grabbed my hand and together we walked down, ready to announce to the world that we were together. Or maybe just his family for now…_

More questions!

**Chapter 1: Dream on!**

With a deep sigh I turned on my side, looking at a sleeping Ranger. We were in bed together, lying next to each other, but nothing had happened. Why couldn't reality be more like my dreams, I wondered. Ranger had gotten the flu, and Aurelia, his sister, had thought it was a good idea to let me come over to take care of Ranger. Then Ranger had woken up around 10 pm and had been thoroughly pissed at her for drugging him with sleeping pills. I still remembered that fight word for word, especially when I came into view.

_"Oh, for God's sake, how difficult is this question? Did someone visit, yes or no?" And this was when I took matters in my own hands. I slowly got up and our eyes met. Ricardo seemed baffled for a few seconds. Our eyes were locked on each other and you could see Ricardo's brain working overtime. _

_"Yes, Ranger, someone did visit tonight," I said softly._

But it didn't continue like my nice dream, which ended into us getting finally together. Nope, no such luck. In stead, this happened.

"What are you doing here?" Ranger practically growled at me.

"Now, Ricardo, that is not a nice way to speak to her." His mother. He actually looked guilty for about 1 second.

"How did you get here?" Oh shit, here were questions I didn't want to answer.

"I eh… I called you."

"When?"

"Eh, when you were eh… sleeping." More like drugged out of your mind, but well…

"And?"

"Huh?" Oh, very elaborate Steph.

"Well, that doesn't explain how you got here." Oh, yeah… Oops. What to do… I looked at Aurelia for help. I mean: it wasn't all just my fault. I didn't drug him, I didn't answer a call that wasn't meant for me and I didn't set someone up.

_Aurelia POV _

I saw Steph looking at me and realised I had to come to her rescue. I mean, this was entirely getting out of hand. No wonder these people never ended up together yet. They were perfect for each other but boy oh boy were they playing hard to get and twenty questions!

"Why don't you go back to bed." I couldn't help it, I had to push one more button.

"No, I will not!" Whine, whine, whine! He looked so cute with the kitten in his arms, the red glow on his cheeks and his black boxers. It was a perfect combination of masculinity and softness. If I had a camera and would be able to take a picture, I would be a millionaire the next day. It made me wonder, would he ever be approached to become a model? It would make sense, looking the way he did… He would be very…

"Answer me, Aurelia!" Oops, Ricardo had started talking and I had completely missed that.

"Sorry, what did you say?" He looked like he was going to explode.

"I asked how Steph got here."

"I'll explain it all to you….", he started to relax, "when you get back to bed." Okay, I take entirely too much pleasure in pushing Ricardo's buttons, but we don't get a lot of chances to do it, so when an opportunity arises, I grab it. With both hands and feet…

"I will not be sent back to bed by my sister!" I knew he would say that, but I knew there was one woman in this room that _could_ sent him to bed, and I desperately hoped she would do it. You know, motherly instinct and all.

"Ricardo, you are sick. Go back to bed." Her tone was clear, discussion closed. She was the oldest woman in the house and it didn't change anything that Ricardo was over 30 years old, he was still her son. I looked at Stephanie's face. She looked completely shocked. Probably never saw anyone ordering Ricardo around. Ricardo opened his mouth to say something, but a stern look from both his parents made him close it again and his shoulders slumped.

"You better be following me up!" he gritted out as he turned around towards the door. I got up and smiled at everyone. My brothers and sisters were all smiling back because they had seen right through my plan.

We all knew Ricardo was a busy man and all, but we loved to tease him because on occasion we could get him off balance. But that took skill, patience and opportunity. Most of the time even we couldn't get to him anymore, he was smart and highly trained. But now and then one of us managed to press a button and then we had great fun for the rest of the evening, usually right up until mother put an end to it. He was after all, her oldest son. And one night, about a year ago, he had been in a bad mood and then Ariel had said something about a woman turning him down for a change and he had simply lunched at him. This was a big no-no in our house: no fighting. It was in the garden, and they were rolling around in the grass. We all knew Ricardo would win, he probably could take all 5 of us at once and still come out on top. None of us was brave enough to interfere with an angry Ricardo, but Mother had done the only thing we didn't expect. In stead of yelling or trying to separate them, she simply got the garden hose and hosed them down. Ricardo had been on top of Ariel (no surprises there) and had gotten the full spray. He had rolled off Ariel onto his back and mother had continued spraying him until he was completely wet. Ariel had scrambled to his feet at the first chance and only a few drops had landed on him and he was watching the scene from about 10 feet away, together with the rest of us. Ricardo on the other hand was soaking wet. Mother probably sprayed him for another 10 seconds while he was laying on his back, his hands up in defeat. With a "I hope you've cooled off" she had turned off the tap and we all had just stood there, looking at her and Ricardo. Ricardo moved his hands up and wiped some of the water from his face and sat up. He was literally dripping wet! But the conversation that followed made us all laugh. He said "thanks, I needed that", to which mother replied "thought so". She helped him of the ground, gave him a hug and we all just laughed our asses off. Nobody ever knew what really happened to get him into that mood, but I didn't expect a hosing down would do the trick in the current situation.

We were up in his room and he was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"What's Steph doing here, Aurelia?" He asked it in a calm tone, but that didn't deceive me.

"She called you and I answered the phone and asked her to come over." I'm such an honest girl!

"Why?" Because she is perfect for you and since you won't make a move, I do it for you.

"Because she could drive you home, that's what you wanted, right?" Smart me!

He looked at me long and hard, probably feeling that that was not the entire truth.

"Right." He said. He looked defeated, the flu will do that to you. Oh, hang on, maybe it was the fact that I had introduced Steph to the family when I had knocked him out and had been interfering with his personal life… As a doctor I was convinced it was the first thing.

He let himself fall backwards on the bed.

"My head is killing me. This stuff must be strong enough to knock out an elephant," he groaned.

"Sorry about that." His head shot up and he looked at me with disbelief. Okay, not so sorry, but he didn't need to know that.

"How long until these side effects wear off?" Oh, he really wanted to run out of here.

"I don't know, you could just have a head ache from the flu. But generally a few hours until it's really out of your system."

"Hmmm." Master with words, my dear brother.

"Just stay here one more night. Steph can sleep here too and she can drive you home tomorrow." That way I have another 8 hours to form my master plan of match making! And tomorrow was Sunday, and since we were all here mother would make a lovely breakfast and we would all eat together. Stephanie would get to see Ricardo from a different perspective.

"I want to go home, Aurelia."

"I know, but it is already 11 pm. And mother would love to have you around for just one more night." I knew he felt guilty about not visiting as often as the rest of us, so this should work. And I had one last thing to convince him.

"Hmmm." This meant he felt obliged to stay but was still trying hard to think of an excuse to go away.

"Listen, Steph would have to stay with you tonight, since all the rooms are filled. Is that okay?" His body went still and he opened one eye to look at me.

"Or would you rather she stayed with me. I'm sure we can become great friends." I could tell Steph all about Ricardo…

"No, here is fine!" he quickly said.

"Great. Glad that is settled then. I'll tell mom. Sweet dreams."

When I closed the door behind me I smiled at myself. I am soooo good!

**Chapter 2: Sleeping beauty**

I went down to tell Stephanie the good news: she got to stay here and sleep in the same bed as Ricardo. I mean: am I nice or what?! I'm sure she was very glad I organized it that way, and that her protests were more out of politeness rather than anything else. And I said I was happy to provide her with some stuff for the night, since we were probably the same size, preventing her to use that excuse. Of course mother was delighted that there was a guest in the first place and that she was a "special friend of Ricardo" made it only better. Stephanie had blushed again when mother had said that, poor girl! Ricardo must have a field day teasing her. She did stay to chat with us for a little while, and had to endure some questioning by everyone. She seemed to relax after the first 10 minutes, explaining how she and Ricardo met, and some stories of the things that happened to her while bounty hunting. What she didn't know was that some of these stories had been told by Ricardo too, but somehow they differed. In Steph's stories, she got into trouble due to her own fault, and then Ricardo rescued her and she felt slightly embarrassed or stupid about that. In his stories, she was the best bounty hunter he ever met, and her instincts were so good that nobody could keep up and he was only glad he could get to her in time to see the "end of the show". Mmmm, interesting differences, don't you think? Both were obviously impressed with the other. Both were obviously in love with the other. I could feel it. I knew from Steph's stories that she and Ricardo had met over 3 years ago now. Imagine how long it would take for them to actually get together if nobody interfered! I mean: Steph was gorgeous, I'm sure other men were interested as well. Oh, dear, I had to move fast!

_Ranger POV_

After about 30 minutes I went downstairs again. I had put on a black t-shirt and was holding Lily in my arms. She would follow me anyway.

"Are you going to let her sleep at all, or are you just going to use the whole night to pry information from her?" I asked the family. It was obvious that they were trying to get as much information from Steph about our relationship as possible.  
"Hey Ric, you never told us that rescuing damsels in distress is your new speciality." Javier. Always the funny guy. I shot him a look, but he just laughed. They knew my responses were limited with mom and dad in the room and they used it to their advantage every chance they got. Steph sat on a chair, blushing furiously. She probably had no defence against this group of skilled interrogators. I had to rescue her before she told slightly more than that I wanted to be known. I already had the feeling that Aurelia had made it her personal task to get us together, and I knew from past experiences what she was capable of… In the old days I didn't mind, but now I had changed my lifestyle slightly, and sleeping around was no longer on my list of activities.  
"Let me get you some things for tonight," Aurelia said to Steph. Uh oh, the look in Aurelia's eyes made me wonder what she was up to. She was up to something, definitely.

_Aurelia POV_

When Ric came downstairs, it gave me the perfect opportunity to start my new plan. First of all it was obvious that Steph and Ricardo had the hots for each other. I mean: look at them! Both of them are stunning to look at individually and when they look at each other you can light a fire with all the heat that is between them. I mean, the air crackles with electricity, the tension is palpable, time seems to stand still… Okay, you get the idea. But despite that, they didn't do anything. So what could be the problem? I'm sure it was my brother who had done something or said something that made Steph so hesitant. Girls always fell into his arms, so he never had to learn the tricks that all other mortals need to get some attention from the opposite sex. And Steph didn't look like she had too much self confidence. So my plan consisted of two things: Steph needed a confidence booster and Ricardo needed a good kick to his butt to get moving and ask her out on a date. So when Steph and I walked up to my room I paid her a few compliments about her hair and figure. She looked at me like I was from another planet, but seemed to be pleased that I said it. Then I got her a nice thing to wear for the night. Not some oversized t-shirt or long shirt that would hide her pretty body. No, I gave her my silk set. It consisted of a violet top, trimmed with some black lace and shaped to follow the curves of a female body and a boxer made of the same violet silk and trimmed with the same lace. She would look gorgeous. Let's see if I could play with my brothers' head… I added a nice violet towel and shoved it in her hands.

"There you go." Steph looked at the silk items.

"Oh, you really don't have to give me something so nice. An old t-shirt will do." Yeah, I'm sure it will do in your book, but not for my plan!

"No, no. A beautiful woman deserves something beautiful." And we're back to the blushing.

"I'm not …."

"Oh, honey! You ARE beautiful. I could see all my brothers watching you!" More blushing.

"Ricardo always got the pretty ones."

"I'm not Ran… Ricardo's girlfriend." No, but you will be soon!

"Really? I could swear he was in love with you. I have never seen him look at a woman like he looks at you. And believe me, I have seen him looking at a lot of women." A pained look crossed her face. Oh great, Aurelia, great thing to say! Now she'll think he is just fooling around, that he sleeps with every woman he can get and she'll never look at him again! Quick, do something, say something, anything!!! Save this situation!

"But he is no longer doing that!" I quickly added.

"He is a very loyal man, ready to settle down and start a nice family life." Steph looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Okay, maybe not a family, but what I am trying to say is that he is no longer interested in just sex. He was a bit of a ladies man when he was younger, but after he got out of the army that stopped. I haven't seen him with a woman for years now. Until he started talking about you." Steph looked cautious.

"What does he say about me?" Smart girl.

"About your captures. How much intuition you have and how fast you can solve a mystery. He loves to help you!" Steph looked sceptical.

"Yeah, for comic relief." What did she just say?

"What?"

"Nothing." I'm sure there was a definite something there!

"Come on, Steph, what would be comical about helping you? I'm sure he didn't mean it like that!" Fingers crossed, toe's crossed everything crossed!

"Well, he said I was a line item in his budget and that he and the team loved me because I made them laugh." My brother said WHAT?!!! Steph looked hurt. No wonder, I'd be kicking Ricardo in some very sensitive places if he ever said to me I was comic relief to him and his team! How could he! Men, oh, you can't live with them, but you can't kill them either. Stupid laws. I was right, though, my brother was responsible for this situation! He hurt Steph and now she stayed away. He could easily keep her at arms length now.

"The pig!" I couldn't help it, it just came out. Steph's eyebrows shot up.

"Who's a pig?" Oh, great. Ricardo had entered the room and heard the last part of the conversation.

"You! You are a pig!" Stephanie started to back out of the room, looking for an exit probably.

"Excuse me?"

"How could you say to this poor girl that you had made her a line item in your budget and was comic relief?" Ricardo just looked at me, slightly stunned, and then turned to look at Steph, who had hidden herself in a corner.

"Babe." He said with a sigh. Jeez, is that all he has to say about it?

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Huh?"   
"Apologize to the woman!"  
"No, really, that isn't necessary. I'm sure…" Stephanie was trying to do damage control her way. She probably thought he would ship her off to a third world country after this conversation was over.

"Aurelia." The warning tone was back. Well, bite me! I'm on a mission here.

"Ricardo." See, two can play that game. We were entering a staring contest. I looked at him triumphantly. I knew I had him in a corner. If he would refuse, he would make Steph feel bad and I was sure that he didn't want to do that. If he did apologize, he would have to do something he doesn't do a lot. Namely: say sorry. He is used to act and do, and not reflect. I could see realisation dawn in his eyes. Hihi, little sisters grow up and get smart, darling brother. He tried to look very angry and then changed to threatening. I could hear Stephanie hold her breath in the corner. But I wasn't scared. He closed his eyes for a second and growled a threat to me in Spanish. Right, like that has ever stopped me!

"She knows I didn't mean it like that."  
"Did you, Stephanie?" I'm pretty sure she would say yes, just to save her life.

"Eh… yeah." Right.

"Well, then explain to me how you me did mean it!" Push those buttons, push those buttons!

"I have explained that to her already. And now excuse me, but I'm going to sleep. I am sick, remember." He smiled at me. Okay, he got me there. He looked at Stephanie and she automatically walked to him. He grabbed her arm and pushed her out of my room in front of him. No doubt to protect her from me. I followed them with my eyes. They would make a lovely couple! Just before Ricardo entered his room he sent a very warning glance my way. It was clear: back out of my private life! I thought about that for a moment. Maybe I should back off a little, to give him some space…

Yeah right!

**Chapter 3: Sweet dreams!**

After we entered his room, Ranger closed the door, turned around and looked at me. It made me fidget. I couldn't get any good or bad vibe from him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… I mean, you did say that I was… eh…. Aurelia suddenly said that you….. " No, this was not going well! I ended up just looking lost at him.

"It's alright, Steph. You do know I didn't mean it as something negative?" Mmm, back to Steph.

"Yeah, sure." What do you think? I don't hear I am a line item in someone's budget daily, so how do you interpret that? It didn't sound like an outright compliment to me!

"Glad we cleared that up." Easy for you to say!

"I'm going to sleep. I'm beat. I still have a head ache from those sleeping pills." He slipped in the bed and made himself comfortable. I just stood there, with the silk items and matching towel in my hands. I didn't feel like undressing in front of Ranger, and I would like to brush my teeth and go to the toilet before I would join him.

"Ehm, where is the bathroom?" He smiled. I felt myself get warm inside.

"It's through that door. There should be a new toothbrush in the cabinet somewhere. " Ah, excellent. I turned around and walked into a small but nice bathroom. It had a shower cubicle, toilet and basin, all was done in Mexican style, with dark blue and yellow as accent colours and a light brown as basic colour. It was warm and tasteful. I locked the door behind me and looked at the shower cubicle. Mmm, shower would be nice… I looked around me to put the silk stuff and towel somewhere and suddenly stopped. My eye had spotted Ranger's personal stuff and it brought back memories from the time his daughter was kidnapped and he had moved in with me for a short period of time. His razor was there, shaving foam, toothbrush, toothpaste and a bar of soap. I wondered what kind of scent it would have… Hang on! Soap! I turned around and spotted the familiar bottle of Bulgari in the shower. I was having a shower!!!

After my shower I tried my best with my hair, but using my hands as a brush doesn't do much good. Mmm, that would be fun tomorrow morning… I took another look at myself in the mirror. I looked nice in the purple outfit, Aurelia had been right. But it didn't make me feel very comfortable. I hoped that since Ranger was sick, he wouldn't try anything he would later regret. I was available now, but wouldn't live through another amazing night with Ranger and then another quick exit from him. I wanted something more than that. But I was still greatly attracted to Ranger, and wondered if I would be able to resist him if he put his mind to it. Mmm, better not think about that, right? Let's just sleep. My day had come to a very unexpected end, and frankly I could use a few hours of undisturbed sleep.

I opened the door and walked into the bedroom again. Ranger seemed to be asleep, he was laying on his back with one hand beside his head and the other next to his body. He looked very nice, very young and attractive. Less dangerous, I suppose, more human. I tiptoed to the other side of the bed and slipped in, hoping I wouldn't wake him up. However, no such luck. Of course not, Steph, the guy is a trained mercenary, they don't continue to sleep when a stranger gets in bed with them! Ranger turned towards me and opened a sleepy eye.

"Babe."

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."

"No problem. That purple looks great on you." Appreciative grin.

"Eh, thanks."

"Come here." He lifted his arm, indicating for me to snuggle up against him.

"Ranger, I don't think…"

"Come on, Babe. Were in my parents house, I won't do anything." I still looked sceptical at him. I knew from experience what his 'not doing anything' could consist off!

"Promise me you will not touch me in any way that is considered sexual, try to kiss me or do anything else that is erotic." Oops, that wasn't supposed to come out like that!

"Babe." More grinning.

"Ranger!" Whine, whine, whine.

"Think you can't resist me?" 200 watt smile and I felt my body respond. This was exactly what I meant: even a smile could make me melt.

"PROMISE ME!" Squeak, squeak.

"Okay, I promise. Now come here." I sighed, but was all too happy to park my butt against his front and feel his arm come around me to gather me close. I wiggled a little to get more comfortable and felt his bodies' response. Oops.

"Babe, what about that non-sexual clause?" His voice was warm and intimate.

"Hey, that was for you, I didn't promise anything." Indignant.

"I will not be held responsible for my actions if you keep wiggling like that!" Ranger warned.

"I'm just getting comfortable."

"Make it fast." Mmm, the flu must make him grumpy. Or he had very little self control, and that I somehow didn't associate with Ranger.

"I'm done."

"Thanks. Now stay still and go to sleep."

"Yes, sir!" Snappy me!

"Babe." But I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Good night, Babe. Sweet dreams." Very suggestive voice here.

"Good night, Ranger."

And sweet dreams they were. Pity reality wasn't more like it. But that did make my life much more interesting.

**Chapter 4: Good morning?!**

I woke up and saw it was still quite early. My head ache had gone and I contemplated to wake up Steph and leave the house before anybody else woke up, but decided against it. My mother would never forgive me if I did that. I heard some scratching at the door to my bedroom and realised that that must be Lily. She was a kitten that we found while doing a "redecoration job" about 8 weeks ago. She had been very dirty and had been eating anything that was left by the inhabitants. At her young age she probably saw as much McDonalds and donuts as Steph had in her whole life. I had taken her with me and washed her and then wondered what I would do with her. She was very thin, so I had bought some cat food and had fed her. The next morning I had taken her to the control room and asked if anybody wanted a cat. Nobody did, and so I first thought that maybe we could have an office cat. A little bit of stress relief. But after an hour Ram had come up with her to my office and said that since I had left, the kitten had only sat in front of the door to the hall and meowed like her life depended on it. He thought maybe something was wrong, but it had wriggled its way out of his arms and ran to me. I picked it up and it snuggled into me, quiet as if nothing was wrong. Ram has smiled a little and said that that was another problem solved and left the room. I realised my reputation was severely compromised. I thought about giving it to Steph, but she had Rex and I didn't think that adding a cat would improve the situation. I had given Lily a stern talk about being quiet if she expected me to allow her in my office all day and she had looked at me with big eyes. I had put her on my desk and she had curled up like a ball and went to sleep. However, when Tank came in about an hour later, she had thought he was a great toy and jumped on his lap, surprising him. Tank was out of his chair with his gun aimed at Lily before you could say 'shit'. So we decided that to prevent any serious injury in the future on either side we had to find a different solution. She couldn't live in my apartment, that would be a bit lonely for a cat and I didn't want to come home to torn up sheets and cat hairs on my clothes, when I remembered my parents. That evening I had paid a surprise visit and my mother loved Lily from the moment she saw her. But Lily still liked me best, so whenever I'm around she follows me everywhere. I slowly got up and opened the door to her. She ran in and jumped on the bed, looking at Steph. This was the first time that she didn't have me to herself and I was wondering how she would take it. She sniffled at Steph, seemed to agree with my choice of partner and settled herself against Stephanie. I went back to bed as well and curled my arm around Steph, my hand touching Lily. I fell asleep within minutes.

_Stephanie POV_

I opened my eyes and looked straight into the eyes of Lily. She seemed to study me, looking intently at me. She got up and walked towards me. I closed my eyes, afraid she might take a swipe at them, but in stead I felt her little head pushing against my forehead. She was purring. Her whiskers were tickling, and I laughed softly. She gave a little meow and walked over my pillow to the other side, where Ranger was sleeping. She pushed against his head too, and he murmured something. She meowed in response, but when no further action was forthcoming, she gave him a little lick on his cheek and another push with her head. More murmurs from Ranger and he turned, he was now laying on his back. He had kicked the blanket down until his waist. Lily jumped on his chest and looked at his face. She walked around on his stomach, but didn't seem to like his washboard abs so wondered up to his chest again. She laid down high up on his chest, one paw on either side of his neck. With her head she pushed against his chin. Ranger smiled sleepily and said "Babe". I froze. Oh… mi… god... Lily continued with little licks on his jaw and cheek and Ranger's smile showed some signs of him getting turned on. He opened his mouth a little and gave a little sigh. He turned his head to one side and Lily happily obliged, pushing her little head against his jaw, followed by little licks. I was mesmerized and couldn't keep my eyes of them. Ranger looked drop dead gorgeous and his dark skin formed a beautiful contrast against Lily's light fur. The small size of Lily compared to Ranger's well trained body was wonderful to look at. If I had the guts and opportunity to take a picture of them, I would have named it 'deadly attractive' because both of them were beautiful and both of them were dangerous when they were awake. I was laying on my side, my head supported by my hand and I felt left out. It seemed that this little kitten knew more about handling Ranger than I did! So I felt I had to show her that I knew what Ranger liked as well, and slowly bowed forward, until my lips touched his. He moaned softly and I moaned back. I could feel the soft fur of Lily tickling my chest. And I could feel the moment that Ranger really woke up. He stilled a little, probably wondering what was going on. He opened his eyes and I looked at him, my lips still touching his, and Lily still pushing her head against his jaw. I smiled at him and our lips broke contact.

"Babe." Soft and warm.

"Good morning, Ranger." I bowed forward for another kiss, when suddenly the door to his room rushed open. I shot up, trying to cover myself with the blanket, while Ranger was suddenly sitting up with his gun in his hands. We were both looking into the eyes of Aurelia, who looked momentarily stunned at the gun and then smiled a mischievous smile. Oh, shit.

"Good morning, you two. Breakfast is ready. Are you coming?" Ranger seemed to count to 10 to calm down and then answered.

"Good morning, Aurelia. Thanks for knocking. Yeah, we'll be right down." He sounded cool, but his eyes showed a definite amount of pissed off.

"Excellent Rick, I'll let mother know." She smiled one last smile and closed the door softly behind her. Ranger's shoulders slumped and he looked defeated.

"Sorry about that, Babe." I would never be able to look at Aurelia again!

"It's alright, Ranger." I sighed, feeling a bit deflated too.

"No, it's not," Ranger growled.

"She'll pay for that, that was a serious invasion of my privacy and she knows it." I wasn't sure how to respond. I didn't want to cause any trouble, but I knew that if Valerie would ever do anything like it, I would be furious.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it." I wasn't even sure what I meant, but well, it seemed like a good thing to say.

"Oh yes, she did." Ranger was really pissed off. I looked at him and grasped.

"What is it, Babe?"

"Ehm, where is Lily?" I looked around and saw that she was laying on the bed near Ranger's legs.

"Over there, why?" He looked puzzled.

"Well, she must have been scared when the door opened like that and you moved."

"Why?" More puzzled looks.

"Because you have 2 scratches, one on your chest and one on the side of your face." His hand shot up to his face and when he looked at his fingertips, there were a few drops of blood on them. He fell backwards on his pillow and gave a grunt. I looked at him and he looked at me, and then I saw a smile forming on his face. I was still surprised at all that had happened in the past 12 hours. Ranger always seemed to be in control, but here he seemed to be continuously off balance. I saw his mother ordering him to bed, I saw his sister bravely invade his privacy without flinching and I saw his brother tease him without fear. He must have read my mind, because he snorted at himself and said.

"I am ex-special forces, I own a successful business and I am feared in Trenton and far beyond that, but when I set foot in this house it seems like the world turns upside down. My privacy is invaded like it's nothing, I get ordered around like I'm a little child and my sister drugs me without me even noticing it." He looked at me again, and then started laughing. He drew me close for a hug and I snuggled into him, smiling as well.

"It's … nice, to see you off balance for a change. Now you know how I feel all the time." I hoped he wouldn't get pissed off about this remark, but he gave me a kiss on my head and smiled at me. He drew me close one more time and sighed deeply.

"You'll have to explain to me how you cope with it, because I'm afraid I'll explode during breakfast." I sat up with huge eyes. Ranger, losing control? And then there was a nock on the door.

_Aurelia POV_

I know I don't live a life of danger, like Ricardo does, but that doesn't mean were not related. With this I mean that I too can have a slightly suicidal streak, which was leading me to his bedroom door once again. I knew I was risking serious payback, but this was too good an opportunity to let it pass. I had caught them in the middle of something earlier this morning, and I felt elated. I was right: put them together in a room and they can't keep their hands of each other. Unfortunately I had interrupted them before they seem to have gotten really far, so I had to do something to correct my earlier 'mistake'. This time I did knock, I am not THAT suicidal.

"Yo." My brother. I opened the door and peeked around it.

"Is it safe?" Glare from Ricardo and blush from Stephanie. Yup.

"Why are you here, I told you we would be down in a minute." Mmm, seriously pissed off still. He really needs to learn how to share his emotions with us. I feel, as his sister and doctor, I have a right to know what's going on in his life. And not all of us lead such interesting lives as he does.

"Let me look at those cuts." I'm smart, I'm a doctor and I'm on a mission, and I soon realised that those little scratches could help my goal. Probably Steph has never seen Ricardo sick, probably she has never seen him in serious pain or in serious trouble. Short: she hasn't seen his human side. And he was offering me one opportunity after another these last couple of days. Also, taking care of a man who was as strong as Ricardo could be something very special for women. According to my friends, it was very erotic. Don't ask me why, I don't want to go there. But I have this one friend who took care of him when he was sick a few years ago, and she is still delirious about it. A few of my other friends took care of him when he was home on leave from the military and he usually came home in less than splendid condition, and they accepted everything from him. They know now that he slept with every woman they could think off, including their best friends, but somehow that is never Ricardo's fault. If you ask ME what it is like to take care of Ricardo and I would say he is an ungrateful, impatient and rude little shit to take care of. He doesn't listen to his doctor, he'll try to escape whenever he has the chance and he is always in a bad mood. But well, that's probably because I don't PLAY doctor/nurse with him, I AM his doctor. According to my friends he was an angel. Yeah right.

I walked over to the bed where he was sitting up now, and grabbed his chin. He slapped my hands away.

"I'm fine, it's nothing." Doesn't like to be vulnerable. Doesn't want Steph to know he is made of flesh and blood too.

"Come on, Ricardo. You know you can get a nasty infection from those cuts. Lily doesn't wear shoes when she goes outside, who knows where she put those paws in." I could see Steph forming a mental image of this. I grabbed his face again and turned it, so I could look at the scratches. There weren't very deep, maybe 1 to 2 inches long. It had already stopped bleeding. I walked to his bathroom and grabbed a towel. I made one corner wet and took it back with me. I had brought some cotton with me and the most stinging disinfectant I could find. I'm bad, so sue me. I wiped the blood from the scratch of his chest, and then got the disinfectant spray. I could feel his eyes watching me. He probably sensed I was up to something. You need a little bit of background info on me now. I work at the ER department of a local hospital. Usually I used products that stung as little as possible, patients simply prefer those. But on occasion I would get a person who would be extremely rude or exaggerating, just because he had a bad day, or wanted attention. Then I had a 'special' bottle of disinfectant. Once again, I'm bad, so sue me. I had so far never used it on Ricardo. He was my brother. But there is a first time for everything. I shook the bottle and then pressed the nozzle.

_Ranger POV_

I knew Aurelia was up to something. She knew just as I did that those cuts meant nothing. The whole story about them getting infected held some truth, but by no means would my life be in any danger if that would actually happen. And I knew for a fact that Lily didn't go outside, mother was still afraid she would walk away and wouldn't know her way back. I was watching her intently, trying to find any clues, but in the end decided that the fact that she came in to clean the cuts in the first place was probably her plan. She seemed to go out of her way to show to Steph that I could be vulnerable too. Yeah right. But when she sprayed the disinfectant on, I hissed. Holy f…! What kind of stuff was this? My back was against the wall, so I couldn't move away from it. It burnt like hell. Even though there were only 4 cuts per scratch, it felt like half my chest was on fire. She sprayed liberally. She was in for some serious payback! Steph looked at me with huge eyes. She probably didn't know what to do about this. And she probably wondered what was going on, because she had seen me getting shot without so much as a groan, and 4 scratches had me hissing in pain. It was the surprise most of all, but she didn't know that.

I gave Aurelia a death glare when she wanted to grab my face again. No way. There had been enough 'playing with Ricardo' for months to come. She seemed surprised at the anger showing.

"Right, I'd better get back down, to help mom with breakfast." Finally.

"Stephanie, can you do the scratch on his face." What? I didn't believe this! She was smarter that I thought. She knew that I couldn't get angry when Steph was around, and she probably guessed that I wouldn't want to admit to Stephanie that it hurt. So I would have to sit here like a lame dog, getting sprayed with that shit again. I quickly wondered if I had some other stuff left somewhere else, but I didn't. Shit, shit, shit. Aurelia gave me a sweet smile and turned to Stephanie.

"Just clean the blood away with the wet towel and then spray this on." Steph just nodded and looked at me again. I wondered if I should tell her, but decided against it. Batman doesn't show weakness. Steph climbed over the bed, and ended up sitting in my lap. Aurelia gave one more satisfied smile from the doorway and then fled the room. I looked back at Steph again, who was holding the towel, but didn't do anything else.

"Come on, Babe." I want to get this over with a.s.a.p. The sooner I could get out of here. I was seriously debating if I wanted to stay around for breakfast. Not with Aurelia acting like this.

"Will it hurt?" Yes.

"No." She looked doubtful, she had heard me hiss before and seen me trying to get away. She gently wiped the blood from my face. Her hand softly pushed my head to one side, so she had a better view of my cheek. When she was finished, she grabbed the bottle and looked at it.

"I don't know this disinfectant." I'm sure it is know the world over in torture chambers.

"She probably got it from the hospital pharmacy."

"She works in a hospital?" My Babe was stalling because she didn't want to hurt me. That was sweet.

"Yeah, she works in the ER." Steph nodded and looked at the bottle again.

"Babe." I looked at her from the corner of my eyes. She looked up again. She sighed and slowly lifted the bottle until if was level with my face.

_Stephanie POV_

I thought my family was dysfunctional, but I was pretty sure that Rangers' sister was no better. From what had happened earlier when she sprayed his chest I could see she surprised him. He had actually hissed in pain, something which I had rarely heard him do before. I didn't really want to hurt him over something so unimportant, so I was trying to think of a way out. But I couldn't come up with any. I looked at the bottle once again, but couldn't find anything there that would get me out of this.

"Babe." His eyes were calm, and urging me to get on with it. So I slowly lifted the bottle.

"You better close your eyes then." I would hate myself if I sprayed his eyes with this stuff too. He closed his eyes and I turned his face a bit more so I could spray the whole cut in one go. I took a deep breath and pressed the nozzle. As soon as the liquid hit his skin I could feel his face flinch in my hand. He squeezed his eyes shut. After a few seconds he opened them again and I could see them tearing.

"Jeez, you've got tears in yours eyes from this!"

"It's from the sting," Ranger said, while drying his eyes on the towel. Doesn't hurt, my ass. He leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

"Thanks. I'll go take a shower now. Want to join me?" Low, sexy voice.

"Ehm…. No." Yes! I watched as he walked to the bathroom, studying his fine behind.

"I'll be quick, so you can shower after me." And then the door closed softly behind him.

I realised a moment later that he didn't lock it.

**Chapter 5: Escape**!

I was still debating whether or not to go into the bathroom. I mean he had invited me after all, and so far I was still wearing the purple set, so I could take a nice look at naked, wet Ranger while I didn't have to show much of me. Mmm, somehow I didn't think I would get away with that. And I was still wondering how upset I would be when the bathroom door opened and Ranger walked out again. My breath stopped. He was only wearing a small towel, cream coloured, low on his hips. His hair was still wet, and a few drops of water sparkled on his chest. A whoosh of warm, Bulgari scented air followed him. I almost had an orgasm on the spot. Did this guy ever have so much as a bad hair day? Probably not. He walked over to me, and gave me a soft kiss.

"Your turn." I might have made some sort of affirmative sound, which had him smiling.

"Want me to soap your back?"

"No!" That wouldn't end well. I mean, it would end well, with loads of sex, but we were still in his parents' house, and I expected his sister to run in any moment again! Besides, it wouldn't solve anything regarding my feelings for him. I quickly grabbed my clothes and went into the bathroom. I looked at the door, and after a short moment of deliberation, locked it. I could hear him snicker through the door. It was still warm and steamy in the bathroom, and I felt enveloped in a Bulgari smelling blanket of warmth. Much like being enveloped in Ranger, really. I grinned at my reflection in the mirror, then berated myself and quickly stepped in the shower.

_Ranger POV_

The reason I wanted to shower first was because I wanted to have a quick word with Aurelia without anyone hearing it. So I quickly put on some clothes and as soon as I heard the water running, I exited the room and started looking for Aurelia. She wasn't in her room, so I went down to the kitchen. Almost everybody was already down, although some of the kids and adults still wore pyjama's. Sunday morning at my parents house was always very relaxed. Mother was standing behind the stove, cooking some lovely dishes. Eggs, salad, toast, fruit, beans, juices, freshly baked bread, everything was available. I gave her a quick kiss and hug, and asked where Aurelia was. At that moment, Aurelia walked into the kitchen and stopped when she saw me. She probably realised I wasn't in the mood for a friendly chat.

"Can I talk to you?" I didn't really mean it as a request, but with mother there, I couldn't really drag her away.

"Ehm, I'm helping mother." Coward!

"I'm sure she can spare you for 5 minutes to talk to your brother?" This one always works.

"Yes Aurelia, that's no problem. I'm almost finished. Go catch up with Ricardo." I smiled sweetly at her, and proceeded to lead her out of the kitchen with a firm grip on her arm. She tried to get into the living room, knowing she would be save there, but I steered her towards the tv room. It was a little room where dad had built a huge entertainment centre. Big tv, surround sound and lots of comfortable couches and chairs. I closed the door behind me and stayed in front of it, blocking her escape.

"Do you know what this is about?" I asked her.

_Aurelia POV_

Shit, shit, shit. This wasn't good. Ricardo had me cornered. I knew that this would happen, but I hadn't expected it so soon. What would be best? Play innocent, or accept guilt. Hmmm, how about a little in between?

"Look Rick, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you." I didn't know that that disinfectant hurt that much. Oh dear, did I forget to say that last part out loud? Silly me.

"Why did you do it?"

"I thought it was the right thing to do." You know you should disinfect a cut. Did I forget to say this too? I must be getting old.

"This will stop right now." He was clearly angry and upset. And I did feel guilty for about 1 second. But I just couldn't let him go on the way he did! I mean: he knows this woman for over 3 years and still nothing happened. He obviously likes her, and he talks about her even to us, but he won't make a move on her. Now what kind of logic is that? Exactly, the stupid kind. I expected that my little brother (okay, nothing little about him, but it makes him much less scarier if you think of him like that) was afraid to show his feelings. It leaves you vulnerable. Now you and me and everybody else who doesn't look like a supermodel has had the occasion disappointment in love. We know that that is part of life and we carry on, looking for the next person that could bring us true love. And one day we will get it right and we'll marry and live happily ever after. But I don't think Ricardo ever heard the words 'no thanks' said to him. So where does that leave him? Well: over 30 and still clueless about love. I had to help him, I felt it was my sisterly duty, my assignment for this week. And remember: all is fair in love and war. He might be an expert on the latter, but I knew more about the first. So I bravely answered him.

"It won't happen again." In my head it translated along the lines of: I won't use that kind of product to disinfect a cut for you again. I put on my most honest face and he seemed half inclined to believe me.

"Right." He looked a bit lost. Probably he had expected a huge fight, with me saying that I was only helping him and that he needed a woman and him saying that I should mind my own business and stay out of his private life. And since I still felt that he needed a woman, correct that, he needed Stephanie, to improve his life and he didn't voice any objections so far, I felt I was free to continue my plan. He gave me one last hard look, shook his head and opened the door to the hall again with a sigh. Stephanie was just coming down the stairs, her hair looking a little wild. She looked at him and smiled. He smiled back and extended his hand to her. She took it and they walked towards the kitchen together. Even from behind you could see they were made for each other.

As soon as they opened the door to the kitchen, they were sucked into the vortex of family, kids, food and noise. Ricardo got some nice remarks from his siblings about the scratch on his face. They were made in Spanish, so Stephanie wouldn't understand them.

"Wow, Ric, nice scratch."

"So she's really as wild as her hair?"

"Is Lily getting jealous?"

He just glared at us while we were smiling broadly at him. Father was just shaking his head and squeezed Ricardo's shoulder to let him know he felt for him. I made sure Stephanie was seated between me and Ricardo. This way I could hear and see what was going on between them. Ranger gave me a final warning glance before he sat down. Lily was laying in her basket, so all was good.

The kids were racing around, until the parents called to them to sit down. Mother had also made some pancakes, and all of us dove in, except for Ricardo. He chose a bit of fruit salad to start. Even Stephanie frowned on that, while she liberally sprinkled her pancake with syrup. Yep, she'll fit right in. Soon the kids had syrup everywhere, and we were all talking and laughing. I was brooding on another opportunity to get them closer together when mother asked Ricardo:

"How are you feeling today?" Stephanie seemed to remember that the only reason she was here in the first place was because of his illness and studied his face.

"I'm fine." He did look much better.

"You look pale." Mother always thought he looked pale. She measured health and prosperity by the extra kilo's that you carried. Since Ricardo carried none, she always wondered if he was eating right, or if he was tired and so on. He was probably the only one of us who ALWAYS ate right, but well, I like to think I have a life.

"I'm fine." A bit more emphasis on the 'fine' part here.

"How's your stomach?" He did throw up on Friday night.

"It's FINE." He positively growled this last answer.

"Hmmm, then why don't you eat pancakes?" He looked lost. Nobody would back him up, that's for sure. Stephanie was looking at him with interest, probably wondering what he would say next.

"I like fruit." A few groans were heard at the table.

"Then eat fruit with pancakes." Mother just wanted to see him eat her pancakes. And he would never insult her cooking, it was good plus he would be banned for life if he did.

"Really, the fruit is fine."

"Why can't you eat pancakes like Stephanie?" He looked baffled and a few grins were showing across the table. The pancake Stephanie had was almost swimming in syrup. We were all looking at it, and she almost looked guilty. Ricardo looked at the pancake with disgust.

"That isn't healthy," was his answer. Mother snorted.

"You can't live on fruit Ricardo." Ricardo closed his eyes, probably counting to ten. Probably no training had ever taught him how to deal with a situation like this.

"Mmm, this tastes great." Steph said, her eyes almost glazed over.

"Babe." Ricardo was desperate. Probably he tried to get her to eat healthier too and probably wasn't having any luck with it. Well done, Stephanie.

"Wanna try?" She was smiling at him. Oh, the lady had guts. Everybody at the table was almost laughing now, although the kids seemed puzzled as to why their uncle wouldn't eat pancakes with syrup.

"Yeah Ricardo, why don't you try it. You might like a bit of sugar." Javier added his contribution to the 'let's push Ricardo's buttons.' He got a glare, which made him laugh. Steph had cut off a piece of pancake and held it up for him. A drop of syrup fell down off it.

"I'll eat some fruit if you eat this piece of pancake." Go, Stephanie, go! She even knew how to bargain with him.

"I will not be forced into eating pancake." When the words left his mouth he realised his mistake. Mother had heard them too, and she saw her chance to play the guilt card.

"Are you saying that my pancakes don't taste nice?"

"No!"

"Just give in, son." Father had started laughing. It was a lost battle, and he had learned on time when to give in. Ricardo looked at Mama again. She was pouting, ready for a full on emotional guilt attack. He sighed and turned to Stephanie.

"Fine, I'll eat that piece." He said, while pointing at the piece on her fork.

"Let me put some syrup on it for you, most has dripped off now." We were all laughing out loud now from looking at the horror on Ricardo's face. Stephanie smiled a sweet smile at him.

"There you are." He opened his mouth reluctantly and she fed him the pancake. He was sending her a clear message though: you better be ready for payback! Steph gulped, but then took another piece and moaned her appreciation. All the men at the table looked fascinated at her, their eyes getting dreamy. Steph probably had no idea of how attractive she was. If Ricardo didn't make his move fast, I'm sure somebody else would.

"Mine." Ricardo growled in Spanish. All male heads snapped back to their plates.

_Ranger POV_

When breakfast was finally over, I almost fled to my room to get my stuff. I could feel myself getting tired again, I still had a touch of flu after all, and I really needed to get to the peace and quiet of my own apartment, preferably with Steph. I could relax a little bit before work started again on Monday. I knew that Aurelia would be upset if she knew that I would be back to work on Monday, but I don't think she understands the amount of responsibility I face. I would take it easy for a few days, but I had more than enough to do and as long as I wasn't unconscious or dead, I would work, one way or the other.

I quickly gathered my stuff and went down again, ready to go. I saw Steph was talking to Aurelia and knew it was definitely time to go. Even though she promised me she wouldn't interfere again, somehow that admission felt a little bit too easy. And judging by the look on Steph's face she wasn't talking about shopping. I walked over to them, and put my hand low on Steph's back.

"Let's go. Do you have all your things?"

"Yes."

"Not so fast, Ricardo." Oh no, here goes Aurelia again.

"What?" No need to be polite here.

"How are you feeling today?" Here we go again. I wasn't dying!

"I'm fine." Stay calm, get yourself out of here a.s.a.p. She put her hand against my forehead and my cheek. I knew I didn't have a fever anymore, but I was a bit warm.

"Mmmm. Hang on." No way was I going through another series of prodding. When Aurelia walked away, I quickly started saying goodbye to everybody. Stephanie followed me around, saying good bye and thanking them. I gave my mother and father a big hug and kisses. I am not much of a hugs and kisses type of person, despite my background, but my family was an exception. We were close, always had been. I didn't get to see them a lot when I was in the Special Forces, and had more than once thought that I might have seen them for the last time. I tried to visit them as often as I could… okay, as often as I could bear. I was the oldest and still unmarried, even without girlfriend. Since 2 of my siblings had found their mate for life, the pressure on the other 4 had increased. My other brother and sisters had found a way of deflecting attention by bringing someone with them on occasion. I had done that a lot in the past, more like a different woman every time, but had stopped that a few years ago. And that had drawn even more attention towards me, on the occasions that they did see me. Most of the time I would endure it, knowing they meant well. But my patience had been tried these last 2 days and I just needed some rest. Mother hoped that I would give her grandchildren too and father hoped I would give him grandsons that were like me, so I knew how hard parenting a hyperactive child could be. I just hoped that I would one day get together with my Babe for a completely screwed up but perfect relationship the way only a man of mystery and a lingerie-buyer turned bounty hunter can have.

I wasn't fast enough, Aurelia came in before I was out of the door. I was still talking to Mom and Dad, when I felt a hand grabbing my belt on the backside of my jeans. Then she put the thermometer in my ear. I tried to duck, but the look on my mother's face told me that I had to endure this like a good little boy. When Aurelia didn't show me the outcome, I knew I didn't have much of a problem getting away, because she would have shown mother immediately if I had a fever. She felt my throat, looked at it one more time and looked at the scratch. I smiled smugly at her. There was absolutely nothing that could make me stay another hour.

"Okay, you're improving. Another 3 days in bed, and you're good as new." Three days, in your dreams. But I smiled and nodded. I could see Stephanie giving me a quick glance. She probably guessed my feelings about the three days bed rest. After another 10 minutes, in which Aurelia gave Steph all kinds of advice on how to 'treat' me and to definitely call her about anything that was unusual or had her worried, we finally made it out of the door. I had taken the BMW, but Aurelia had made me give the keys to Steph, because of the "after effects" of the sleeping pills. I had the distinct feeling that that was a lie, but I could see Steph enjoyed the prospect of driving my car. I just hoped she didn't blow it up.

I settled in the passenger seat with a sigh, leaning my head against the rest.

"Where do we go?" Stephanie asked.

"The office." She turned over the key and with a soft purr the engine came to life. Finally, I made it out alive!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 6: Home, but not for long**!

The drive to the office was quiet. In my mind I was organising work for next week. I hadn't spoken to Tank, so he didn't know about this weekend and I didn't know what had happened in the office this weekend. We didn't work in the weekends unless it was necessary but we were on call and did check in by phone regularly. I was on call for the even weeks, and he had the odd week numbers. However, if things were really bad, he would call me. He knew it was the weekend of my fathers' birthday and since he hadn't shown up, I took it that something happened that required his assistance. Usually he would come by in the evening for a few hours, my parents had known him for years now. I glanced at Stephanie. She drove with a glee in her eyes. She must like this car almost as much as I do. I hoped she would stay around for the day, but knew it would take careful planning. She usually got pretty nervous when we were alone. I suppose I was guilty of pushing her a bit and she was afraid of what would happen when she would play along. She and Morelli had called it quits a few months ago now, and sometimes I still couldn't believe that it was over for good between them. Tank once said that I was still waiting for her to go back to him and that she would go to someone else if I didn't change my behaviour. It had been food for thought. I now had the chance of getting her into my life for good and in a serious way, but it was all down to me. The playing had been nice, exciting and fun. But now I had to face up to the reality: play time was over. She probably still didn't know how much I felt for her, and she had no idea how scared I was of getting close to a woman. The whole episode with Julie's abduction didn't help but it had shown me how much she was willing to sacrifice for me. Even without Aurelia's 'help' I had already decided that I would start showing her a little bit more of me and see how she would respond to that. Stop playing and start getting serious.

We arrived in the garage and I got out. I waited for Steph to lock the car and held my hand out for the keys. She looked at me with a grin on her face and for a moment I thought she might try to hold on to the keys a little longer, but then she gave them to me. I could see the security camera zooming in on us from the corner of my eye. Probably wondered which woman was allowed to drive my personal car while I was riding shotgun. I pushed Steph in the direction of the elevators and we went up. I pushed the button for the 5th floor and got off.

"Go ahead to the apartment, I'll join you in a minute." I first wanted to speak to Tank.

"Okay." The elevator doors closed again and I looked at them for another second. When I turned around Tank was standing at the entrance of the control room looking at me. He looked tired.

"My office?" I asked. He nodded and we walked there together.

"What happened this weekend?"

"You know the new client that you weren't so sure about?" I remembered them. It was a small IT company and they wanted us to do their security. That in itself wasn't so strange, we provided security for more businesses. But what had my alarm bells going was that they didn't want to tell us what exactly they were doing and I also had seen that they didn't have any security on the premises yet. That is very unusual. My services are good, but they don't come cheap. Usually a company will call us because normal safety precautions have failed, or because their business progressed and required a higher security level. I had them checked out and came up with very little information. That is also unusual. So in the end I decided I wanted a trial period of 1 year. Something felt off about this, and I wanted to be able to terminate the contract without any repercussions. The trial period had started last Monday. Somehow I wasn't surprised that they were the subject of Tanks story.

"What happened?"

Then Tank started to tell me what had happened. Saturday around 6 pm the alarm had gone off and they discovered that a break in was taking place. They had gone to the property and saw that almost everything had been taken, and that the property had been set on fire. They had called the police and the owner, and the owner had wasted no time in telling them that he would sue Rangeman because they hadn't done anything to protect the company and why did they pay any money if Rangeman wasn't doing anything and so on. This was when Tank was called in. He had asked the people working in the control room about the time of the alarm and the time that the first team had been in place, and there had been less than 5 minutes between that. He soon realised that the burglars wouldn't have been able to take all the stuff that they took and set fire to the company in that small amount of time. So either the alarm had been disabled and turned back on when the fire had been started, or the office had been empty to begin with.

Tank had waited for the owners to leave the police station and took them to Rangeman where he had a hard talk with them. Within an hour they broke down. Turns out that they had started doing business with the wrong type of customers and that, on top of that, they had tried to blackmail those customers. Those customers had made some threads and they had turned to Rangeman for security. However, the customers had abducted the wife of one of the owners, and they demanded a large sum of money. Since they didn't have that kind of money, they took all their office equipment home and then set fire to the building, planning on suing Rangeman for the loss of the equipment and the insurance for the building and pay the ransom with that cash. They thought that they could win the case by arguing that if Rangeman had responded within a reasonable response time, a lot of the equipment should still be in the office. They hadn't realised that Rangeman recorded every conversation and movement of their personnel and would be able to show that they responded immediately. The guys were in great stress and had no idea how to get out of it. So Tank decided to help them and had spent the rest of the night helping them to get the wife back. Tank had found out who was responsible for the abduction and had negotiated between the 2 parties. The price for the woman's freedom had been greatly reduced (now "only" $250,000) but they were still looking for a way to get the money. He had a plan, but needed to talk it over with me before he could propose it to the IT guys. He hoped that Rangeman could come up with the funds and then work out a repayment scheme with our clients. Even though I am a tough business man, I still value life above anything else, so I agreed with Tank that this was the best way to go. I said that we would have to go over the details with them at a later date, and to let them know that I wouldn't let them off the hook easily. I'm not a loan shark, but I'm no charity either.

"So how was your weekend? You look a little pale." I almost rolled my eyes at that. He sounded like my mother.

"It was fine."

"How's the flu?" I looked at him in surprise. How did he know that? But then a light went of in my head.

"Aurelia called you." Tank nodded slowly.

"What did she tell you?" Tank grinned.

"She said that you had gotten sick on Friday and that she had drugged you on Saturday night and that she had gotten the Bombshell to take care of you." I could see he was enjoying this. Great.

"What else." Aurelia usually didn't just give the minimum amount of information, Aurelia usually gave the maximum amount of information.

"That you should be kept in bed until Wednesday and you shouldn't do any physical work until next week." I could see there was more.

"And?" I asked.

"And that I should make sure that it was the Bombshell that took care of you because she apparently knew exactly what to do." He was grinning widely now. Bastard.

"What else?"

"She hoped she had an opening in her schedule to come and check on you early next week." Oh great, why don't you just shoot me now? I dropped my head in my hands and rubbed my face. I rubbed the cuts and quickly moved my hand away. I could see Tank studying me.

"You and the Bombshell had a fight?" He asked. I could see that he was still smiling inside.

"What?"

"Scratches." Oh, yeah.

"No, that was Lily."

"The kitten got jealous of your attention for Steph?" He was laughing again.

"No, that happened when Aurelia surpri….." I quickly stopped. Better not go there.

"When Aurelia…?"

"Drop it."

"Sure thing, boss." Smartass. We both got up and walked back to the control room.

"Say hi to Steph for me."

"I will. Let me know about the IT case." Tank nodded and I got into the elevator and pressed the button for the 7th floor. I hoped that Steph was willing to stay, it would greatly improve my Sunday. On the other hand I also wanted to get involved in the IT case. Standing at the sideline was never my thing. But Tank had everything under control.

I opened the door to the apartment and found Steph sitting on the sofa, watching television. She looked up and smiled at me.

"Hi. Rangeman survive the weekend without you?"

"Yeah, looks like it." I contemplated telling her about the IT thing. I knew I could trust her and it would show her that I could share.

"Tank might call later though, to update on a case." See if she took the bait.

"Oh?" Close enough. She probably didn't want me to think she was curious. So I told her the story that Tank told me. She laughed when I told her that they wanted to sue Rangeman, but looked worried about the kidnapping of the woman. When I told her that Rangeman would provide the funds, and that Tank was now negotiating with the kidnappers she looked at me with clear blue eyes.

"That is really nice of you."

"Yeah, I'm a nice guy."

"Are you going to let the kidnappers get away with it?"

"No, but I want the woman to be safe first. Tank already knows who they are, so as soon as we know that the woman is safe, we'll go after them."

"Good." She sounded satisfied with that answer and smiled at me some more. Then her cell rang and she answered. I wondered who it was.

"Hello?"

"Oh, hi." She looked at me. Uh oh.

"Ehm…." She listened some more.

"I see." She looked at me again, a little uncertain.

"I'll tell him." I mouthed: who is it? She mouthed: Aurelia, and then rolled her eyes. I grabbed the phone from her on impulse.

"Aurelia!" I practically barked.

"Oh, Ricardo." She was surprised.

"You PROMISED me!" I didn't need to tell her that this was about her no longer involving herself in my personal life.

"I did." She sounded very calm. Strange.

"So?"

"I promised you I will never use that disinfectant on you again, Ricardo. I didn't mean to hurt you." I was almost boiling.

"What?!" I heard her smiling.

"Wasn't that what the conversation this morning was about?" She sounded innocent enough, but she didn't fool me. I was so angry that I was almost at a loss for words. I realised just in time that Stephanie was still in the room, and that it was her phone I was almost crunching in my hand. I took a deep breath to calm myself and eased my grip on the phone.

"This isn't finished yet," I growled.

"That's right, Ricardo. You and Steph are still a long way from being together." I really had no reply to that, other then one that would end in a shouting match, so I punched the end button and handed the phone back to Steph.

"What did she say to you?" I asked Steph.

"She wanted to know if you were in bed yet. And then she said that I had to make sure you went to bed soon." She was blushing and fidgeting.

"What did she promise you?" she asked me softly. I wasn't sure how honest I wanted to answer that one. I decided for more or less the truth.

"I told her to stay out of my private life."

"Uh huh." Steph looked like she knew that was only part of the truth, but luckily didn't continue her line of questioning. I leaned back against the sofa and closed my eyes for a moment. One weekend at my parents, and look at the mess I was in.

"So, how are you feeling?" She looked at me with concern.

"I'm fine." The answer came out automatically. I opened my eyes and saw a look of hurt cross her face. I regretted my answer, if I ever wanted a relationship with her, I needed to tell her the truth, most of the time anyway. I leaned over to her and put my hand on her leg. I looked her in the eyes.

"Really, I'm feeling much better. Just a bit tired, but that's all." She nodded slowly, contemplating the second answer versus the first. I moved back and felt the muscles in my stomach again, they really had cramped up during the vomiting and were still stiff. Steph was observing me closely. Mmm, this telling the truth wasn't so easy. Talking about my physical state made me feel weak. In the Special Forces we usually didn't say anything unless we had broken bones or couldn't walk anymore. But of course, I was no longer in the Special Forces. I took a deep breath.

"My muscles are stiff from throwing up." I felt lame saying it, but Steph nodded in understanding. Okay, not so bad.

"Would you like me to get you anything?"

"No, but feel free to grab something from the kitchen if you want."

"You have something that I would eat?"

"There should be some stuff left from the time you were hiding here and working here." Best days of my life, that were. When Stephanie was snooping around the kitchen, my phone rang. It was Tank.

"Yo."

"Yo, you feel strong enough for some action?"

"Give me 5 minutes." And I disconnected. I turned to Steph in the kitchen.

"That was Tank, we are leaving in 5 minutes. Want to come?"

"Why would you want me along?"

"I think the kidnapped woman would like a woman there." And I would like Steph there.

"Okay, but I didn't bring any clothes with me."

"No problem, there still is a set in my closet. And I'll get you a gun and other stuff. Go grab the clothes. You can change in the bathroom." She practically ran into the bedroom and quickly found the clothes. She raced into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. I quickly changed into my black work clothes too and opened the gun locker to take out my gun and one for her. I was just grabbing the vests and utility belts when she reappeared from the bathroom. I looked up and was once again stunned by her beauty.

"Babe." And I smiled. I threw her the flake vest, which she caught easily and shrugged into it. She grabbed a utility belt of the bed and started filling it. Gun, handcuffs, pepper spray, stun gun. We were both ready and I grabbed her and gave her a quick kiss on her soft lips.

"Let's go get them, tiger."

**Chapter 7: Take down and taken down**

We were standing in the garage and I was looking at the faces of the men around me. Ranger and Tank were there, but also Cal, Woody, Ram and Lester. We would go in 4 cars and Tank was updating us about the situation. He had found out that the woman was held in a house on the outside of Trenton. He had negotiated a place where they would give the money to the kidnappers. It was a place that was well known in the company, because apparently Ranger used it as a training ground on occasion. Ram and Lester would be in place way before the kidnappers would arrive. Tank would do the exchange, having Ram and Lester as silent backup. Ranger, Cal, Woody and me would go the house where the woman was held, and free her. We knew that there were 3 people in the house, and we suspected that 2 would make the exchange, so that would only leave 1 in the house. I had a hard time absorbing all the information, because most of it was done in army speak. I was sure that Ranger would give me the English version of it before we did anything, so I was watching faces. They all were very serious, listening to Tank talking and nodding in understanding. On occasion, a question would be asked and then Tank would continue. This probably explained a large part of my attraction to Ranger that developed over the last couple of years. In the beginning, the sentence "legally grey but morally right" had sounded to me like an excuse to get away with crimes. But now that I had gotten to know Ranger better and seen how he handled his business, I realised he used that sentence to explain how he settled injustice. This situation was another example. The IT company had basically given them wrong information, lead them on and then tried to get them to pay for something they weren't responsible for. Despite that, Ranger was now handing over $250,000 of his own money, which in worst case scenario he wouldn't see again, and using 6 of his employees on a Sunday to help the client out. Officially, the police should be involved and the whole formal negotiating game would start then. But in stead, to make sure that justice was done and done fast, he sent in his own people. And they were all more than willing to go. So was I, for that matter.

I felt Ranger's hand on my back, guiding me towards on of the Bronco's. All the guys were also getting in cars, so I guess the briefing was over.

"Want me to go over it one more time?" Ranger asked with a smile. He knew that my thoughts tended to drift away from the subject at hand. I nodded.

"Ram and Lester are driving to the exchange location now, to get into place. Once they are in their location, Tank will park his car in a location where he can see the kidnappers coming and he'll let us know when they have arrived. We are going to observe the house, and let the others know when the kidnappers leave the house. Then Cal, Woody and myself will enter the house and free the woman. You will stay here as lookout and backup for us, and when we bring back the woman you will let the other teams know that we have her. Then Tank, Lester and Ram will take down the guys who do the exchange and we will take them all to a location where we can hold them until the IT guys decide what they want to do. If they want to press charges, we'll drop them off at the police station." What would happen if they didn't decide to press charges was something I wasn't sure about if I wanted to know, so I didn't ask. I nodded my head and switched on the communication device that we all wore. Only Tank had a 1-way radio, so we could hear what was going on at his side, but he couldn't hear us. It would be a dead give away if Tank showed up at the exchange location wearing an earpiece. We all left the garage together, but Tank's and Ram and Lester's cars soon turned right. We drove through Trenton to an area where I hadn't been before. Ranger told me that we were a few blocks away from the house where the woman was held. Cal and Woody would do a drive-by first and then report to us. After about 20 minutes we heard that Ram and Lester were in place, and I called Tank to tell him the good news. He told me he also was in place, so now Ranger and I were driving closer to the house to start our observation. Woody and Cal had parked a few streets away, waiting for our signal to move closer. We had to wait for close to 30 minutes before we saw 2 guys leaving the house. During this time, nothing was said between Ranger and me. It was a strange silence. I was getting nervous and anxious about the coming action. This wasn't the first time that I was involved in a takedown with his team, but it was the first time that I had a serious task. Normally I did distraction. Ranger seemed to be in his zone, calmly observing the house, looking relaxed. He only moved when I heard a soft "zzzzzzzz" sound that turned out to be his phone. He looked at the display, frowned and pressed a button. The buzzing stopped. One minute later, his pager buzzed. Ranger looked at the display, sighed, pressed a button, and the pager was silent again. Then one minute later, the display of his car phone flashed. Ranger made a soft growling noise before pressing a button that stopped the flashing. Mmm, somebody wanted to talk to him. Then his phone buzzed once, he had gotten a message. He checked it and put it back on his belt. One minute later, it buzzed again. Ranger closed his eyes and didn't even bother to look anymore.

"What's going on?"

"That's Aurelia." Oh my, that woman was fearless!

"Wow," was all I could say.

"Yeah." His phone buzzed again. Ranger looked positively furious now. An idea suddenly popped into my head.

"Let me answer it." I held out my hand. Ranger lifted one eyebrow.

"Give it to me, I know what to say." Ranger slowly pulled the phone of his belt and gave it to me.

"Hello?"

"Stephanie?"

"Aurelia?"

"Yeah."

"Hi, how are you?" I'm very polite, didn't I tell you?

"Fine, thanks. Listen, is Ricardo there?" I quickly glanced at Ranger and smiled at his questioning look.

"No, he's asleep." Well, he was sitting still, so I wasn't stretching the truth too far, don't you think?

"Really?"

"Yeah. Like a baby." I added, to give it more credit. Ranger slowly closed his eyes and let his head fall against the steering wheel. He knew he couldn't say anything, or it would give him away. I decided to play a little.

"He was really tired, so he went straight to bed when we got to his apartment." Straight to work was more like it, but well. Ranger started to wave his hands in some movement that probably indicated that I was pushing it.

"The poor guy." I almost snorted at that, but managed to stop myself just in time. Instead I made some sort of affirmative noise.

"Listen, can you ask him to call me back when he wakes up?"

"Sure, but that might be a while. He was really out of it." Ranger glared at me. I smiled sweetly at him. This was fun, although I knew somewhere in the back of my head that I probably was in great danger, playing with Ranger like this.

"Okay. Thank you. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up and looked at Ranger. I had to swallow before I could speak after I saw the look in his eyes. Gulp!

"Babe, that wasn't funny."

"Hey, I'm helping you!" I tried to sound indignant.

"Mmmm." And he focused his eyes on the house again. About 10 minutes later, 2 men appeared and Ranger was all business. He gave a short description of the two men to everyone, including the car that they drove and after 2 minutes, he told Woody and Cal that it was time to move. Since they didn't know where exactly the woman was, they decided that Cal would ring the bell and when the guy answered, he would stun him. Ranger and Woody would be at the back of the house, breaking down the back door in case of trouble. Woody would let them in if he managed to stun the guy. Ranger opened the door of the Bronco, gave me one last look and then disappeared. Now all I could do was listen to the radio traffic to understand what was going on. Tank, Lester and Ram had acknowledged the information from Ranger and now were waiting for the 2 men to arrive. It would be a close call to see if they managed to free the woman before or after the money was handed over. After 5 minutes, I heard Ranger telling Woody that Cal and he were in place and that he could ring the bell. I felt myself tense up. This was it.

I heard Woody ringing the bell. He waited about 30 seconds before he reported that nobody opened and he would ring again. He did and still nothing happened. Uh oh. Then the action exploded in my ear.

"Go go go!" Ranger shouted. Crashing noises and some yelling.

"I'm in!" Woody.

"Left, left!"

A shot was fired.

"Shit."

Somebody grunted.

"Drop the gun! Drop it!"

"No fucking way!"

More shots. More shouting.

"Drop it! Drop it!"

"Fuck you!"

"Go!"

Some grunting and wrestling sounds.

"Cuffs!"

"Get off me, get the hell of me!"

"Get up."

"Where is Mrs. Johnson?" Ranger.

"Bite me." A solid thud, like a fist connecting with a body. A grunt followed.

"Where is the woman?"

No sounds.

"Fine, search the house."

After a few very intense minutes I heard the words.

"We've got her. She's fine."

My breath came out in a whoosh, I wasn't even aware that I was holding it until now.

"Okay everybody. We've got the woman and the guy. Apprehend the others."

Lester and Woody made an affirmative noise and I called Tank to give him the message. He said that he hadn't seen the other 2 man yet, but that they would apprehend them and then get back to us.

I saw movement and looked towards the house again. Woody and Cal came out first, dragging the guy between them. He was cuffed. They secured him in the Bronco and then walked over to my vehicle.

"Ranger wants you inside."

I got out and walked into house. Ranger heard me and called out to me.

"In the basement!"

I saw a door that was halfway down the hall and half open. I opened it further and saw a set of stairs leading down. A small light lit the steps. I could hear a woman softly crying. I carefully walked down and was shocked when I saw the scene before me. A woman was sitting in the corner of the room, on the dirty ground. She was wearing a jogging suit in light blue, which was smudged and torn. She was crying and looked incredibly tired. She sat with her back against the wall, hugging her knees which she had drawn up to her chest, looking at Ranger with fear. The smell in the basement was awful and I couldn't see any food or water. There were chains around her feet, and when I followed the chain, I could see it was connected to a hook in the wall. She could barely move 6 feet. Ranger was sitting opposite her, at about 3 feet distance. He had squatted down, hoping that would be less intimidating, but the woman only looked back with eyes hollow with fear. I quickly took off my flak vest and dropped my gun belt. I mean: what kind of message do you sent across when you say "I'm a nice person" but you are heavily armed and built like Ranger. I suppose in a situation like that it could come across as "You better believe me or I'll snap you in two." I slowly walked further into the room. She didn't even seem to notice me.

"What's her name?" I asked Ranger.

"Cheryl."   
"Okay, now please leave the room." He looked at me for a second, then nodded. He slowly got up, and Cheryl tried to disappear in the wall behind her. He slowly walked to the exit and quietly said:

"I'll be at the top of the stairs." I nodded and then walked towards Cheryl myself.

"Cheryl" I said softly. Nothing.

"Cheryl," a bit louder this time. She seemed to realise it was her name, and looked at me. I had squatted down too, and was still about 6 feet away.

"Hi, my name is Stephanie." I wasn't sure if she understood what I was saying.

"I'm here to help you." No response or reaction. Cheryl was in serious shock. I moved one foot forward and she looked weary at me.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you." She looked at me more intently now. I moved another foot forward.

"What happened, Cheryl?" I hoped that she would start talking, to get her out of this shock state.

"Cheryl, can you hear me?" She seemed to think for a moment, and then nodded. Good, a reaction.

"Can you say something to me?" She looked intently at me again and then suddenly something changed in her face. Some sort of relief was showing.

"You're the Bombshell bounty hunter" Cheryl said. I almost rolled my eyes. I thought I heard Ranger snicker on the stairs.

"Uhm, yeah. So you know now that I am here to help you, right?" She nodded slowly again. And then I could see her eyes filling up with tears. I moved closer to her and extended my hand to her.

"Let me help you, Cheryl." Slowly, she extended her hand to me. It was dirty and shaking. When her hand touched mine, she grabbed my hand so hard it was almost painful and started crying uncontrollably. I moved towards her and pulled her close to me. I had tears in my eyes, the woman must have gone through hell and now she realised it was finally over and it all came out. I made soft soothing noises while Cheryl cried.

I don't know how much later, but I felt she was finally calming down a little.

"It's going to be okay, Cheryl." She nodded and loosened her grip on me a little bit.

"Listen, we need to get this chain off you. Do you know if there are keys anywhere?" She shook her head no.

"Okay. No problem, we'll find a way to get you out of those. Would you like something to drink first?" She nodded yes and I heard Ranger move towards the kitchen.

"Cheryl, listen to me. That man in black that was here earlier is Carlos Manoso, he is the owner of Rangeman. He is here to help you. Don't be afraid of him, okay?" She nodded.

Ranger came in with a glass of water and slowly approached us. Cheryl followed his every move with her eyes, scanning over his utility belt and clothes. Then she looked at his face.

"He looks cute," she said to me. Ranger actually looked perplexed for a second and I gave a small chuckle. Cheryl was getting herself back together again.

"Yes, he looks real nice. And he is real nice" I said. Ranger handed her the glass of water, which she drank in one go.

"More?" he asked her. She nodded gratefully and Ranger went upstairs again.

"They grabbed me when I was jogging" Cheryl suddenly said. That explained her outfit. I nodded and waited to see if something else would follow this statement. Ranger came back in with another glass of water and gave it to her. He took a few steps back and leaned against the opposite wall. Cheryl studied him.

"He's really hot." Then she realised what she said, and clapped a hand over her mouth, blushing furiously. I laughed and gave her a squeeze.

"Are you feeling a bit better now?" She nodded and I looked at Ranger.

"How do we get the chain off?"

"I've found some tools. I'll get them." He left again, and Cheryl looked at me.

"Jeez, that has never happened to me before."

"Getting kidnapped?" I asked.

"Well, that too, but I mean what I said… earlier… about him."

"Honey, women the world over have preceded you. Nobody is prepared for their first meeting with Ranger. It takes multiple sightings to believe that a man that handsome exists and another dozen to get some sort of working brain function when he is around." Cheryl chuckled too, and looked 1000 times better. Ranger returned with a tool that looked like a really big pair of garden scissors. He walked over to us and he picked up the chain and studied how it was looped around her feet.

"Okay, I can cut it here and here, but you'll have to hold really still." Cheryl nodded. Ranger put the tool to good use, and 5 minutes later Cheryl was free. She tried to get up, but almost immediately fell back to the floor again. Ranger caught her in time and lifter her in his arms. Her eyes glazed over and she sighed in content. I had to smile at this, because Ranger looked a bit lost for words. He looked at me for help, but I held my hands up and smiled. Don't look here for help, mister. He shrugged and walked up the stairs and outside while I followed. Ranger put her into the backseat of the Bronco and managed to untangle himself from her. She tried to hold on as long as possible. Ranger gently closed the door of the Bronco and leaned against it while sighing and running his hands over his face. I laughed out loud now.

"Babe, this wasn't funny."

"Oh, it was Ranger, it was."

"What happened? One moment she is scared to death of me and the next I can't get her away from me."

"She got kidnapped. And then she realised that her rescuer looked like prince charming and her hormones overreacted."

"Hmmm…. Let's go back to the office."

"Wanna sit in the back with her?" I asked him.

"No! You sit with her."

"She'll be disappointed. She is a client…"  
"Babe," he growled.

"Sorry, Ranger. Couldn't help myself." I got into the car and Cheryl and me spent the rest of the trip talking about hot guys.

The reunion with her husband was really touching. They did the whole running to each other, kissing like crazy and hugging. More kissing, more hugging and then they were gone. Ranger told the IT guys that they would keep the criminals over night and they would discuss their options in the morning. I had the sneaky suspicion that the flu was catching up with him. He looked tired and I had to admit that I felt a bit deflated too after the emotional rollercoaster with Cheryl. I was feeling the beginning of a monster head ache and I really wanted to go home. But then I realised that my car was still at the house of Ranger's parents. Shit shit shit. We went up to Rangers apartment and he asked me if I wanted to stay for dinner. The thought of not having to cook myself and getting served with Ella's delicious cooking had a great appeal (not to mention the nice company) so I relented. I asked Ranger if he had some Tylenol for me.

"What's wrong, Babe?"

"I have a headache."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, probably from all the excitement of this afternoon." Not to mention yesterday. He nodded and went into the bathroom. He returned with a bottle of Tylenol and a glass of water. I took 2 pills and swallowed them down. We settled on the couch and were quiet for a while. I studied Ranger. He looked a bit tired himself.

"So, how are you feeling?" I asked him. He cut his eyes to me and smiled a small smile.

"I'm okay, but a bit tired." He was still wearing his vest and utility belt, so I think that the "bit tired" was an understatement. Suddenly my eye was attracted to a spot on his vest that didn't look right. Hang on, that looked suspiciously like a bullet!

"Ehm, Ranger. What happened to your vest?"

"What?"

"Your vest, what happened to it?" He looked at his vest too, and then looked at me again.

"He shot me there, but the bullet didn't penetrate." Penetration or not, I knew from the last time he got shot while wearing a vest that the bruises could be huge. I walked over to him and tugged on the vest. He moved so he could let it slide off his arms. The bullet hit the vest almost in the middle of his stomach. Not a lot of bone there, but a lot of sensitive soft tissue. Although, with me it was soft tissue, with Ranger it was his hard six pack. I laid the vest on the couch and pulled his t-shirt out of his pants. There was a large angry bruise on his stomach, right were the bullet had lodged itself in the vest.

"Jeez." I said. I dropped the shirt again and looked at him.

"Yeah. Can you give me the Tylenol too?" I got up and gave him the bottle and a glass of water. He took 2 and swallowed them down. Then Ella was at the door with the food. It smelled delicious, but I realised soon enough that I wasn't really hungry. Actually, the thought of eating made me feel sick to my stomach. What's going on here, I thought, I normally can eat anytime, anyplace, anywhere!

"You okay?" Ranger asked.

"I'm fine." And I started putting some food on my plate. I didn't want to be impolite, so I better eat something. We settled at the table and I looked at the food. I took a few bites, and I'm sure it would have tasted great if I had been hungry. But I wasn't, and it started to feel like a large brick was settling itself in my stomach. I started to push my food around, hoping the Tylenol would kick in soon. I could feel Ranger glancing at me on occasion, but so far he hadn't said anything. I forced myself to eat another bite, and then suddenly felt my stomach turn over. Oh shit! I quickly pushed my chair back and raced to the bathroom, making it in time to the toilet to throw up all the food I had had. Even when I felt there was nothing there, my stomach kept on squeezing and contracting, it was painful. Suddenly I felt a warm hand settling itself on my back, soothingly going up and down. After what seemed like an eternity, my stomach finally decided that it was empty and stopped heaving. I leaned my head against the wall while savouring the feeling of Ranger's hand on my back. After a few moments I got up and rinsed my mouth with water and washed my hands and face. I felt dizzy and weak. I turned to Ranger and sighed.

"I'm sorry." I said.

"Hey, it's not your fault." He put his hand to my forehead and against my cheek.

"I'm afraid it's mine" he continued.

"How do you mean?" I asked.

"I think I gave you the flu."

**Chapter 8: Down time**

I couldn't believe my ears. Ranger gave me the flu! Grrrr! I hate the flu, it makes you feel like shit. Ranger had given me a lot, but that was usually good things. This was a change.

"Maybe it's just a cold" I tried. It didn't feel like just a cold, it felt like the flu, but a girl can hope, right?

"Babe." I gave a deep sigh, I knew he was right. I slumped on the couch, feeling miserable.

"I just want to go home, Ranger." It sounded a bit whiny to me, but I figured I had a right to whine. I had left my home 2 days ago to take care of HIM and look at me now. I had to meet his family and specifically his sister Aurelia, I had to do a take down and now I was down with the flu. I almost felt cheated. The idea of taking care of Ranger had some attraction in it, but I didn't get to do that. There was no sick Ranger, coughing and whining and waiting for me to bring him some water. No, it was ME who was in that position. And I wanted to go home and sulk in my own bed.

"Stay here, Babe. Let me take care of you." Mmm, that did sound attractive. His lovely bed, Ella, and himself of course! But still…

"I have no clothes here, nothing." It was a lame excuse, but I thought I had to give some resistance.

"I'll have Tank pick something up for you." When I still looked doubtful he continued.

"Come on, Babe. I feel responsible for getting you sick, let me make it up to you." Well, if you put it that way…

"Fine, I'll stay here tonight" I said on a sigh.

"Good." Ranger walked to the phone and called Tank. I could hear him give instructions about what to pick up while I dozed off on the couch.

I was floating in the sea, which was really warm and very clear water. I looked around me and could see the fishes swimming around me. The sun was out and the weather was lovely. I could see palm trees lining the white sandy beach. This was heaven! Hang on, somebody was waving to me from the shore. I swam in the direction, and my breath was taken away by the view before me. It was Ranger. He was wearing black swimming shorts. His broad chest sparkled with water drops and his 6 pack abs rippled with every move. When my feet felt land, I got up and walked the last couple of meters. I was wearing a white bikini that looked lovely against my bronze skin. I stopped right in front of Ranger and put my arms around him.

"Babe." And we kissed, slowly, deeply, lovingly. Mmmm.

"Babe!" What?

"Babe! Wake up." Wake up? No, I don't want to wake up! I want to keep dreaming. Humpf! I opened my eyes, and found Ranger's dark brown ones looking back at me.

"Babe, Tank has brought some stuff over for you. If you want, you can take a shower and go to bed." I was still on the couch, although Ranger had covered me with a comforter. My head felt heavy, although the headache had subsided a little bit.

"Thanks" I croaked. My voice had been affected by the flu too, and I swallowed painfully.

"Babe." It sounded very affectionate. I slowly lifted myself of the couch and shuffled into the bedroom. A bag was sitting on the bed, and I started rummaging through it. I found my shampoo and conditioner and my razor. I rifled through the bag some more and found my lovely light blue with pink daisies pj's. It consisted of a singlet top with a short and it felt lovely. I shuffled into the bathroom and started the hot water. I washed my hair and shaved my legs. Then I used Ranger's shower gel and soaped my whole body. I was beginning to feel a bit human again. I got out of the shower with a bit of reluctance and dried myself off with the lovely towels. I put on the pj's and opened the door to find Ranger standing on the other side.

"Babe, feeling a bit better?"

"Yeah."

"Ready for bed?" I don't know, but somehow that sounded sexual to me… Well, at least I'm not dead yet since my hormones were functioning just fine. I nodded, and Ranger padded on the bed while he sat on the other side. I climbed in and let out a contented sigh when I was laying down. Mmm, heaven.

"Can I get you anything?"

"No, thanks." Ranger gently moved his hand through my hair, sending warm feelings shooting through my body. I was almost asleep when I felt him move.

"Good night, sleeping beauty." He gave me a kiss on my forehead and then he was gone. So was I, off to dreamland!

_Ranger POV_

I looked at Stephanie sleeping in my bed. Her cheeks were red from the fever, but that didn't make her look any less attractive. Her hair was spread out over the pillow, shining beautifully. She had kicked down the blanket to about mid waist, and the light blue outfit she wore was visible. It was a funny little thing, making her look really vulnerable and female. I loved looking at her, I could spend hours like that. But I was interrupted by my phone.

"Yo."

"Ricardo, you're awake again." Shit, Aurelia.

"Yeah."

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"Listen, can I talk to Stephanie?" Double shit.

"Now is not a good time." I knew it was hopeless. She was curious, she was on a trail and she could hear between the lines.

"It won't take long." What to say?  
"Why?"

"I just want to ask her something." No doubt about me.

"What?"

"None of your business, Ricardo. Now put the girl on the phone."

"I'm afraid she's not available."

"She isn't with you?" I hesitated to think up a good story, but that hesitance killed me right away.

"She is there, isn't she?" I said nothing.

"What's going on, Ric?" Damn it. What to do? Mmm, better not lie to Aurelia, because if she found out I would never hear the end of it. She'd tell Mom, and well…

"Ehm… Steph got sick." It was quiet for a moment on the other side.

"What?"

"She got the flu, Aurelia."

"Wait a moment. You gave Stephanie the flu?" I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Yeah." I sighed. I was never going to hear the end of this.

"So where is she now?"

"She's sleeping." That's a safe answer, I thought. But then, this is Aurelia we're talking about.

"Where?"

"What?"

"Where is she sleeping?"

"Ehm…"

"She's in your bed, isn't she?" I was silent once more.

"Aw, this is so sweet. You can take care of each other now." I had no response to that either.

"Listen, I'll come by after dinner, to make sure you're doing alright there together."

"No, Aurelia, that's …." She had hung up on me. Sigh… Double sigh.

I was tired myself, so after dinner I took a shower. I had just dried off when the doorbell rang. Aurelia. I quickly tied the towel around my waist and walked through the bedroom to the living room. Luckily, Steph had slept through the bell. I opened the door for Aurelia, who was momentarily stunned to see me without clothes.

"Ricardo, why aren't you wearing any clothes?" Her eyes got this dangerous look in them.

"Did I interrupt something?" Mischievous smile.

"No, Steph is sick. What are you thinking?" She was in my house for 5 seconds, and I already felt defensive.

"What happened here?" Aurelia asked, while touching the bruise on my stomach.

"Nothing." I slapped her hands away.  
"If I didn't know that you were in bed all afternoon, I'd say that looks like the impact of a fist." She quickly scanned the room. Shit, the vests and utility belts were still laying around.

"Or," she continued "the impact of a bullet in a vest." She looked at me with angry eyes.

"Care to explain this, Ricardo?" Nope.

"What do you want to hear, Aurelia?" I was caught red handed, but I didn't feel that I needed to explain my business to Aurelia.

"You could have been killed!"

"I could get killed every day of the week." Sad, but true.

"This way, you're never going to get married."

"Maybe I don't want to get married." This was unheard of in our family, and I was careful not to say anything like it when Mom was around.

"What?"

"I've been married. Didn't work for me." Okay, maybe that had lots of reasons, but well.

"You need a woman to take care of you." No, I need to take care of a woman who is currently sleeping in my bedroom.

"Keep your voice down, you'll wake up Steph." That directed her attention away from me. Phew.

"What happened?"

"Halfway through the day, she got a headache and started throwing up. She had a fever and went to bed."

"Let me check her." There was genuine concern in her eyes. I sighed, ran my hands through my hair and nodded yes. Aurelia walked to the bedroom and opened the door. Steph was still sleeping. She had hardly moved. Aurelia walked to the bed and gently touched Stephs hair and face.

"She has a fever, alright." She mumbled. Steph stirred a bit and Aurelia started talking to her.

"Steph, wake up. Let me look at you for a moment. Steph… Steph, wake up." Steph mumbled something, and slowly came awake. She looked surprised to see Aurelia, and then scanned the room, her eyes settling on me. Her eyes turned large and blue, and she licked her lips. I realised I was still only wearing the towel. Aurelia snickered, bringing Steph back to earth.

"Out, Ricardo" Aurelia said.

"Excuse me?"

"Give the patient some privacy." I mumbled something under my breath and grabbed some sweatpants and a sweatshirt and left my bedroom.

_Steph's POV_

That was a strange way to wake up. First I saw a woman, and it took me a moment to realise it was Aurelia. And then I saw Ranger in nothing but a towel, looking delicious. And now I was alone in the bedroom with Aurelia. Gulp.

"How are you feeling, Stephanie?"  
"Okay" I croaked. My throat felt like it had swollen to the size of a big potato.

"Hmm, you're just as bad as Ricardo. He wasn't sleeping this afternoon, was he?" I hesistated, not wanting to rat out Ranger.

"Steph, I've seen the flak vests and the bruise on Ricardo's stomach." I nodded. She knew it all then. She smiled at me.

"So I ask again, how do you feel, Steph?"

"Like I'm sick. I have a heavy head, my throat is sore and I threw up." There, that was it.

"Oh, baby. Let's have a look at you." She put her hand against my forehead and my cheek. Then she felt around my throat. She grabbed a thermometer and said "open up" and stuck it under my tongue. Then she listened to my heart and lungs with her stethoscope and checked the thermometer. I had a fever alright. She looked at my throat and then put all her instruments away.

"You have the flu. I'll give you something for your throat and you should stay in bed for 5 or 6 days I think. You can take some Tylenol or something like that against the fever." I sighed. I hated having to stay in bed, and 5 or 6 days sounded like an eternity, even in Ranger's bed.

"Let Ricardo take care of you, spoil you." She smiled at me again. She fluffed my pillows and I gratefully leaned back against them. She called out to Ranger, and he came back in. He was dressed in sweats and looking as good as ever.

"How are you feeling?" he asked me.

"Like I have the flu," I sighed. He smiled.

"Sit down, Ricardo" Aurelia said, while patting on the bed. He did sit down and she started checking him.

"Aurelia! Stop it." I looked rather amused at the interaction. Ranger seemed to do anything to get away from Aurelia.

"Ricardo, let me check you!" They wrestled some more on the bed and in the end, Ranger gave up. He was laying on his back on the bed and Aurelia was sitting on his stomach. I had the sneaky suspicion that she knew his stomach was sensitive and used that against him. Aurelia felt his throat, checked his temperature and looked at his throat. Then she lifted his sweatshirt and felt around the bruise. Then she stood up again.

"Finished. You're getting better, but you have to take it easy for the next couple of days anyway." He didn't answer.

"How's Steph?" he asked instead.

"She has the flu, and I want her in bed for 5 to 6 days at LEAST." She looked at me sternly. I just nodded. She grabbed her stuff and left the room together with Ranger. That was fine by me, I was ready for another couple of hours of sleep.

**Chapter 9: Sleeping beauty…**

I woke up feeling a bit disorientated. It took me a while to realise what had happened and where I was. I was in Ranger's bed and I had gotten the flu from him. Even though I had kicked the blanket off, I still felt very warm. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Ranger was laying on his back, the blanket at his waist. Guess I was too warm to snuggle up to tonight. The bruise on his stomach looked very dark. I slowly sat up and felt my stomach turn. Oh no, not again! I stumbled out of bed and raced into the bathroom again. I hadn't eaten anything last night, but I did have a little bit of water to drink, which now found it's way out again. This was soooo unfair. Why wasn't Ranger throwing up? Why did I have to do that, in front of him? My stomach felt once again the need to make sure it emptied itself thoroughly before it stopped contracting. I flushed the toilet and sat down with my back against the wall, savouring the feel of the cool tiles against my hot body. I closed my eyes for a moment when I heard a movement close to me. I opened my eyes to see Ranger squatting down in front of me, looking worried.

"Babe," he said softly. He gently squeezed my hand. I gave him a weak, sad smile and slowly got to my feet again, feeling dizzy. Ranger put a hand against my back to steady me, while I rinsed my mouth. He guided me back to the bed and I sat down on the edge of it. I didn't want to lay down right now, because my stomach still felt very upset. But I felt very weak and tired. I sighed deeply. This was what I hated most about the flu. Those first couple of days when you had no energy, felt weak, when even the tv lost it's appeal and you couldn't find a good position to sleep in. You were either hot or cold, you were thirsty but no drink sounded attractive and you were hungry but the smell of food made you feel sick. And right now I was in the middle of it.

"Lie down, Babe," Ranger coaxed. I just shook my head. I heard the rustle of the sheets and Ranger put a hand on my shoulder.

"What's wrong, Babe?" I tried to find the energy to answer him while his other hand gently rubbed my back.

"I don't want to lie down yet." My stomach decided that that was the moment to make some rumbling noises and for a moment I feared I had to race back to the bathroom again.

"Ah," was all Ranger said in understanding. I felt some movement behind me and I saw him collecting a few pillows on my side and then he settled himself against them. He patted on the space between his legs and I moved towards him. I settled myself sideways against Ranger. I was sitting between his legs, my left shoulder against his right side, my legs laying over his stretched out left leg, my feet dangling over the edge of the bed. His arms came around me. His right arm across my back, settling low on my hip while his left hand settled on my stomach and gently rubbed it. The warmth of his hand was soothing. I buried my head into his neck, sighing again.

"I hate this," I said. I could feel Ranger's chuckle.

"I know, me too."

"That's easy for you to say, you are up and running." Can you say 'whining'?

"Hey, my sister drugged me! And I did throw up on Friday night."

"Humpf." Another chuckle. I snuggled into him and enjoyed the feeling of being cared for. After a few minutes I realised that I had no idea what time it was.

"What's the time?" I asked Ranger. I felt him shift slightly to look at his side of the bed where he had an alarm clock.

"It's 3.24 am." Wow, I had slept for about 6 hours since Aurelia had left. I wondered how long Ranger had been there. I looked at the bruise on his stomach again, and I traced the outline with my finger. The bruise was about 4 inches in diameter, almost a perfect circle, starting in the middle of his stomach and ending just above his navel. My finger flowed over the different 'cushions' of his six pack, his skin feeling soft and warm. I looked up to his face to find him watching my finger intently. He still looked a bit tired, but it was obvious that his body had beaten the flu. I was intrigued by his muscles and started to trace the muscle groups on his abdomen. I could feel Ranger sitting very still and when I traced a muscle group that led towards the edge of his boxer, I could feel his body respond. But my finger had a will of its own when it crept closer towards his waist and I wondered what he would do if I traced it all the way down.

_Ranger POV_

When she started tracing the bruise, I felt a tingling sensation go through my body. Her finger was warm and soft. I wondered where she was going with this one when I noticed that she had left the path of the bruise to trace muscles on my stomach. It was playing havoc with my mind and I willed myself to keep still. Steph seemed lost in thought and seemed to have no idea about the effect her finger had on me. I tried to distract myself by thinking very asexual thoughts, but when she traced a muscle group that led from my side down to my groin, my body betrayed me. Despite this, her finger didn't stop its torture and slowly approached the waist band of my underwear. I watched it get closer and closer until it was less than an inch away from the waist band. I was at the end of my self control and my hand snaked out and grabbed hers, holding it still in its position.

"Babe," I groaned. I let the breath out that I'd been holding. I could feel her tense in my arms. I squeezed her softly, to let her know I wasn't angry at her. She slowly looked up at me and I could see the guilt in her eyes.

"Sorry," she whispered.

We sat together in silence for a while. I was still trying to find anything to say to her when I felt her relax against me. My hand brushed her curls and she snuggled into me. I felt very good, holding her like this. She had been the woman of my dreams for a while now, and I had wanted her in my life for a long time. But Morelli had been in the picture in the beginning and later I had found other excuses why I couldn't be with her. Lately, I had been running out of excuses and realised I wanted her in my life, period. No matter what it took. But I still wasn't sure how to achieve this goal. Steph could be very unpredictable. And having Aurelia watching me like a hawk didn't improve things. But at least right now I had her in my arms. Her breathing had become very regular and when I brushed her curls away to look at her face, I saw that she had fallen asleep. I gently lifted her from between my legs and laid her down on the bed again. She murmured a few things and then settled again. I hoped that she would get another few hours of sleep, it would do her good. I went to the other side of the bed and slid under the blanket. I turned on my side and rolled a little closer to her. I propped my head up on a hand and with the other I touched her hair again. I loved that hair, despite its unruliness. The long curls shone softly in the small amount of light in the room. She made a small noise and turned onto her side, her back to me. With a soft sigh I gave in to my desire to be close to her and scooted over to her so that our bodies were touching. She settled into my body and I put my hand on her stomach again, softly rubbing it. I put my head down on my arm and closed my eyes. It would be a while before I would fall asleep again.

**Chapter 10: Medication for the soul**

I woke up with a pounding head. Last night's memory rushed back. Ugh, I had the flu. I carefully rolled on my back and my stomach made some growling noises, but at least I didn't feel like throwing up anymore. I looked over to Ranger's side, but he had long left. The clock on the bedside table said it was 10.26 am. Wow, I had slept over 15 hours since last night. I slowly got up and grimaced when I felt how stiff my muscles were. Another lovely side effect of the flu. I went to the bathroom to take care of business and swallow down some Tylenol and after I washed my face and brushed my teeth I felt a bit better. I put on Ranger's robe and padded into the living room. All was quiet in the apartment, but a note was laying on the kitchen counter.

_Hi Babe,_

_Hope you feel better today. Call me when you wake up._

_Ranger_

So I got my phone and called him. He answered after the first ring.

"Yo."

"Yo yourself," I croaked. Wow, I had almost no voice left. My throat still felt sore and swollen.

"How do you feel?" Gee, I don't now, maybe like I have the flu. I guess I still hadn't forgiven him for passing the flu on to me.

"Okay," I croaked.

"Babe." It sounded affectionate. Suddenly there was a change in the atmosphere at his side and I heard some shouting.

"Listen, if there is anything you need, just call Ella. I'll call later today." Dial tone. Guess he was busy. I browsed through his cupboards and found some crackers that looked attractive and made myself a cup of tea. I placed myself on his lovely couch and started channel surfing. I settled on some 'Will and Grace' reruns and nibbled on the crackers. After I finished the crackers and the tea I laid down on the couch and pulled the afghan over me. Slowly I felt myself drift off to sleep again.

_Ranger POV_

Steph's voice sounded horrible over the phone, which reminded me that I still needed to pick up the prescription that Aurelia had given her. I sent Cal out to get it and then pulled myself back to work again. It was a typical Monday with lots of things happening. Sometimes I had the idea that people spend their whole weekend trying to come up with questions and problems and they all wanted an answer Monday 9am. And I still had to deal with the after effects of the takedown from last night. I would go up for dinner, but I would have to take a stack of paperwork with me to do after dinner. Most likely Steph was sleeping anyway, but it felt nice to be in the apartment when she was there too. Made it feel more like a home. When I had a few minutes around lunchtime I went up to bring her the medication. It was some type of cough syrup that she would have to take 3 times a day. When I entered the apartment, the tv was on, but I couldn't see Steph. I walked closer to the couch and then saw that she had fallen asleep on the couch, curled into the afghan and my robe. She looked beautiful. A cup was standing on the coffee table next to a plate with some crumbs. I was glad that she had managed to eat and drink something after all the throwing up from last night. I gently caressed her hair and face and she stirred.

"Babe." She mumbled something, but settled down again.

"Babe, … Babe, wake up." Slowly she opened her eyes and looked at me.

"Ranger," she croaked.

"I've got some cough medicine for you." I read the label on the bottle and went into the kitchen to get a spoon. Steph slowly sat up.

"How are you feeling?" I asked when I got back. She shrugged and swallowed painfully. I opened the bottle and poured some liquid on the spoon.

"Here, slowly swallow this, it'll help with the throat ache." I held the spoon in front of her mouth and she opened her mouth and allowed me to feed her the syrup. She swallowed a few times and then said:

"That stuff tastes absolutely disgusting." That's my Babe.

"Aurelia said it should help pretty soon." She just nodded.

"Would you like something to eat?" I asked.

"Just some crackers maybe…" She didn't sound sure, probably afraid of overdoing it and throwing up again. I got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen to rummage through the cupboards to find something light to eat for her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 11: Contemplations**

"I've got to go downstairs again." I didn't want to leave her, but duty was calling. Steph was sitting sideways against me, long legs stretched on the couch, body warm against me, wrapped in the afghan and my robe. Her cheeks were still red and glowly, but she looked a bit better than last night. She was nibbling on a piece of toast and nodded.

"How do you feel?" she asked me.

"Okay. It's very busy at the moment, so I don't have time to feel tired." I smiled at her. To prove my point, my phone decided to start ringing. I gave her an apologetic look while I answered it. It was Tank.

"Yo, man. Could you come back down?"

"I'm on my way." No need to ask why, I knew he wouldn't call unless it was important. I moved away from Steph with regret and gave her a quick kiss on her hair.

"Take it easy today. I'll try to be back for dinner around 6. Tell Ella what you would like to eat, anything is possible." She actually seemed to perk up at that thought.

_Aurelia POV_

It was busy this morning in the hospital. Lots of people coming in with injuries from the activities done during the weekend. Lots of swollen ankles and knees from sports, a few cuts and bruises from fights and falls and a few accidents. It was past 2 in the afternoon, and I still hadn't eaten lunch. But it was finally quieting down a bit, and I raced towards the break room to grab something to eat before the next patient would wander through the door. Also, I wanted to call Ricardo, to see how things were going with him and Stephanie. I hoped that Ricardo would get Stephanie to stay with him in his apartment, that would definitely help in getting them together. I called his cell and he answered after the first ring.

"Yo." He sounded like he was in a hurry.

"Ricardo, what a way to answer your phone!" A beat of silence.

"Aurelia." He sounded irritated. It was obvious that he had expected someone else.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine." I didn't expect any other answer from him. He would never say 'I'm half dead', even if he was. Shows you how eager he is to get cared for by me… Wonder if it would be any different if Stephanie asked…

"And how's Stephanie?"

"She is doing better." Another non-committal answer. He was trying to get me to stay away. Lucky for him I can't get away from work until quite late tonight, but he doesn't know that…

"Should I come by?"

"NO!" I swear, he almost shrieked! I snickered.

"Relax, Ricardo. I have to work until 11 pm."

"Good." He sounded relieved. "Steph and I are both fine. And now I've got to go."

"You're working, aren't you?" I could tell from the background noises, but did I tell you that I liked to push his buttons?

"What do you expect, Aurelia. I have a business to run." He sounded defensive again.

"Hey, you're the one who has a beautiful woman in his apartment that needs to be cared for." And with that I ended the conversation. I whished that I had been around to see his face after my last comment, but well… you can't have everything in life.

_Stephanie POV_

I woke up around 4.30 pm, feeling hungry. I had moved myself to Ranger's bed after lunch and had fallen asleep not long after that. His bed made you feel like you're in heaven, and the sheets were soft and cosy. I turned on my other side and slowly opened my eyes. The other side of the bed was empty. I looked at the bed, looked at his bedside table. There was an alarm clock on it, which also was a radio. It was sleek and black, no surprises there. There was a big book laying next to it, with a piece of paper about halfway sticking out on the top. I looked at the title. 'Special topics in calamity physics' by Marisha Pessl. Didn't mean much to me, but then again, I'm not much of a reader. Also, it contained a small lamp. Apart from that, the bedside table was empty. No pictures, no dust, nothing out of place. Very different from my bedroom, where my bedside table was always full with lots of things. My whole bedroom was always full. Clothes laying around, shoes, empty bags from shopping, papers, you name it. Ranger was in many ways my opposite. I liked his apartment, but only for a while. It always makes me feel like I was staying in a hotel, with Ella providing housekeeping and roomservice. It made me wonder how Ranger viewed my apartment. Probably thought of it as an unsafe, messy old place, although he did come by on regular occasions and he had stayed with me when his daughter was kidnapped, without much comment. I wondered what it would be like to live with Ranger longterm. Would he be as tidy as this apartment? Would he like cooking? Could he laze around for a day, doing nothing? Sleeping in late, breakfast in bed… I imagined waking up next to Ranger every day… Having his beautiful body next to me every night.. Mmmmm, that would be wonderful!

I felt a warm feeling spreading through me and this time it wasn't from the flu… I shook my head a little to clear my mind. What was I doing, imagining living with Ranger? I had no idea how he felt about me. My dream a few days ago at his parents place had been wonderful, and had made me realise that I really was falling in love with him, but I had no idea about his feelings. I know he liked me, but he hadn't lived up to his 'promise' to fill my bed when things ended with Morelli. And he knew that things had ended with Morelli a long time ago, for good. So maybe that meant that he wasn't in love with me, just liked to play around a little. I felt myself getting a bit sad, and decided to stop thinking about this subject. A shower was in order, as well as deciding what to eat tonight. Ranger had said that anything was possible…

After the shower I called Ella.

"Hello Stephanie! How are you feeling?"

"Hi Ella. I'm okay, still feeling a bit shaky, though." My voice was still sounding raspy, but it was getting better. The cough medicine tasted really bad, but it did seem to work.

"Ranger told me that your stomach was upset."

"Yeah, but I managed to eat some toast and crackers. I'm actually a bit hungry now." Hint, hint…

"That's great. How about I make some light dishes for you to eat tonight?"

"That would be great."

"And would you like a little snack right now?" This woman is perfect!

"If it isn't too much trouble…"

"No, not at all dear. How about some toast with egg?" That sounded really good right now.

"I'd like that."

"Okay, I'll have it ready in about 10 minutes. Will Ranger be joining you for dinner tonight?"

"I think so." I wasn't sure, Ranger had said that he would try to be back, so I suppose my answer was okay.

"Good."

Ten minutes later Ella was coming through the door with a plate filled with toast and scrambled eggs. It tasted like heaven. She also had some fresh orange juice and another cup of tea for me. After I had finished, I rinsed the plate and glass and put it all back on the tray. I was getting tired again, and I sat down on the couch. I spotted the remote for Ranger's elaborate sound system and pressed play. Soft music filled the room. I listened for a minute until I decided that I liked it. I snuggled into the afghan and felt myself drift off to sleep once more.

I woke up and felt disoriented for a moment. Then I realised that I was on Ranger's couch, I had fallen asleep after my little snack. My spidey sense tingled and I realised Ranger was in the room. I opened my eyes and looked up to find him watching me intently. He was standing next to the couch, still dressed in his usual black outfit.

"Babe," he said softly.

"Ranger." My voice was much better.

"How are you?"

"A bit better. I had eggs on toast."

"That's good to hear. Are you hungry for more food? Ella brought a few things up about 5 minutes ago." I sniffed the air and smelled some wonderful scents. On cue, my stomach rumbled, this time to let me know it was hungry and not because it was sick. Ranger laughed out loud.

"Good to know you're getting your appetite back." I just glared at him. He went into the kitchen and put a few things on a tray before he returned. He placed the tray on the coffee table.

"I thought we could eat here today, that way you don't have to get up."

"Oh, I can sit at the dinner table." I was afraid I might make a stain on his couch or carpet, so I started to get up. He put a hand on my arm and looked at me.

"Babe." I looked at him and noticed that he looked tired.

"It's no problem Ranger, I feel much better." He looked at me for another moment before casting his eyes down. When he spoke, he looked at me again, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips.

"Okay_, I_ don't want to sit at the table today. I'm tired and I just want to relax for a while before I continue my work."

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, just tired. Move over so I can sit on the couch too." I scooted to the right and Ranger put the tray down in my lap and took the lids off the plates to reveal the food. It was rice with beef and some vegetables together in a nice sauce. It looked nice and smelled even better. Ranger grabbed a plate and put it down on his lap, leaving me the tray. He grabbed the remote and switched the tv on. He surfed channels until he found one that he liked and kicked off his shoes and put his feet on the table.

"Mmmmm." I couldn't help myself, this tasted so good.

"Babe." He sounded pained, and when I looked at him his eyes were liquid brown full of fire. I blushed. Oops. Our eyes held and I could see a lot of emotion in them, but I didn't know what that emotion meant. Still, glad to know I affected him this much.

After dinner Ranger leaned back into the couch. He rubbed his face with his hands and then glanced at his desk standing in the office space. I followed his gaze and saw a large stack of folders laying on it.

"I hate paperwork," was all he said. I nodded, I could identify with that statement.

"Inspire me, Babe." Hot images flashed in my mind, and I felt a blush creep itself up towards my face. I swallowed and looked at Ranger. I could see a small smile playing at his lips. He was playing with me again… Sigh…

"Babe." He pulled me to him and kissed me somewhere above my ear. For a moment I relaxed against him, enjoying his warm, hard body and his delicious scent of Bulgari and Ranger. His arms folded themselves around me and pulled me into his lap and we snuggled into one another. He put a hand on my forehead.

"You don't feel so hot anymore. Looks like your body is winning the battle with the flu."

"Yeah, I feel a bit better." We looked at each other, and he slowly moved in for a kiss when his phone rang. He closed his eyes briefly before grabbing it from his belt.

"Yo," he practically barked into the phone. It actually made me smile. Seemed to me that Ranger was trying to distract himself from work, but didn't want to say flat out: I don't want to work tonight. Seems Mr. Discipline was having an internal argument.

"Oh, Aurelia." He looked apprehensive. That woman was fearless! And she seemed really keen to get Ranger and me together. According to Aurelia, Ranger and I would be perfect together. I would like to believe that, but… Hang on… What if she was right? She knew Ranger all her life… And she seemed to be convinced that Ranger was in love with me… Maybe I should take a chance… Maybe I should go for what I wanted… Maybe I should find out if Aurelia was right… Maybe I should talk to her…

"I'm fine," Ranger barked.

"She's fine, too." Hey, was he talking about me? I looked at him and made a move to let him know that I wanted to talk to Aurelia myself. He looked surprised and nodded 'no'. Excuse me? I pointed once more at his phone and he mouthed 'why?' I mouthed back 'question' and looked halfway angry at him. He seemed to consider this for a moment and then his shoulders sagged and he spoke to Aurelia.

"Steph wants to talk to you," and handed me the phone. Whoa, that was abrupt.

"Aurelia?" I asked. I got up and walked to Ranger's bedroom, closing the door behind me. This was a conversation that I didn't want to share with Ranger.

"Stephanie, hi. How are you?"

_Aurelia POV_

When Ricardo put Stephanie on the phone I was a bit surprised, but happy that I would get a chance to talk to her personally rather than listening to Ricardo's one word answers. Steph asked about her throat and how long she would have to stay in bed for. I told her that she should stay in bed for another 2 or 3 days at least, preferably at Ricardo's place, so she had someone to take care of her (and I hoped that having more time together would get Ricardo to finally make his move, but I left that part out). Then, when I thought she wanted to end the conversation, she suddenly surprised me.

"Aurelia, do you really think that Ranger is in love with me?" I couldn't stop the grin forming on my face.

"Oh yes, dear. I'm sure."

"How can you be so sure?" She sounded very serious. I wondered what brought this on.

"Steph, I've known him my whole life. I've never heard him talk about any woman the way he talks about you. His eyes light up, he smiles. He might not realise it, but everybody in the family knows. Mom has been dropping hints for a few months now." She drove Ricardo nuts on occasion, but Mom and Dad were so hoping for him to find that final bit of happiness to make his life complete. His life wasn't always easy, and he had gone through tough training in the army, but now Mom hoped that a woman would soften him up a little. He still lived his life like a soldier, with rigid discipline. A woman would get him to loosen up a little on occasion. Hell, we all were hoping that! Apart from that, there is just nothing better to watch than two people in love.

Stephanie was silent.

"Why did you ask?" I asked her. More silence. I decided to take a risk and push her a little.

"You love him, don't you?" A sudden sharp intake of breath told me I had scored a hit.

"Stephanie, I'm very serious about this. I know that I like to tease you and Ricardo, but I only do that because I want you guys to end up together. You two are perfect!" Come on, girl! Tell me I'm right and I'll do anything in my power to get you two together! And believe me, I have considerable power.

"Yeah, I love him…" she almost whispered. Yes! Oh, this was great, this was perfect, this was all that I needed, this was… Okay, let's just say these words made my day. Ideas were flying through my mind at warp speed, when Steph spoke again.

"Will you help me?" What exactly was she asking?

"Help you with what?"

"Help me get Ranger."

"It would be my pleasure, Babe."

**Chapter 12: Push and pull**

I couldn't believe myself. I had just asked Rangers sister to help me get Ranger… The very sister that promised him she would back out of his private life, the very sister that he was desperate to stay away from. The sister that had tricked me into taking care of Ranger… The very sister that was apparently aware of his nickname for me… Probably Ranger would never forgive me, probably I would be on the first flight to Africa as soon as he would find out. And probably he would find out, because Aurelia didn't strike me as the type of person who could keep a secret. Oh SHIT!

On the other hand: I wanted Ranger. And it was time to find out if he really loved me or not. I mean: we could do this dancing around each other for several more years probably, but wouldn't that be a waste of time if he said in the end: I don't want you? Yes, it was time for me to find out if Ranger loved me or not, and it was time that he found out that I loved him. He had played unmercifully with me, it was time to let him know there were consequences… Am I sounding a bit revengeful? Maybe… Will it be fun to play with Ranger… Hell, yeah!

Aurelia told me that she had to work late today, but would call me back tomorrow to discuss some ideas. She sounded very enthusiastic when she said this… Mmmm. She told me to take care of Ranger tonight, because he was still recovering from the flu as well. I gave her my number and we ended the conversation. I walked back to the living room, to find Ranger sitting behind his desk, working on the stack of files that I had seen earlier.

"Aurelia says to tell you not to work too much."

"Aurelia doesn't have my job." Do I detect a bit of anger there?

"Aurelia means well, I think." He looked positively shocked when I said this.

"Aurelia needs to mind her own business." And with that he turned his attention back to the file laying in front of him. Discussion closed.

"Would it disturb you if I turned on the tv?" I asked.

"No." I grabbed the remote control and turned the volume to a soft background murmur while I surfed for something nice to watch. I found a documentary about baby animals. They were so cute that I couldn't help myself but keep watching. Slowly I fell asleep again on the couch, snuggled up in the afghan, my head on a pillow.

I woke up sometime later to find the documentary about baby animals replaced by some violent movie. Mmm, not half as appealing. I looked up and saw that Ranger was still working behind his desk, the stack of files considerably smaller than before. He was reading something, while he was holding his head in his left hand, a pen in his right hand making notes on occasion. I looked at the wall clock and saw it was almost 11. Time to move to the bed. I was feeling tired and still a bit sore, and I had a sneaking suspicion that my fever was returning, if the pounding in my head and the hot feeling were any indication. This was also part of the flu. You could wake up after a good night sleep, thinking you were doing much better, and then at the end of the day you felt yourself getting worse again. Oh well, the thought of Rangers bed was appealing anyway. Rangers' bed with Ranger in it sounded even better… Mmm, let's see if I could persuade him to join me. I slowly sat up and he watched me with soft eyes. He looked tired.

"How's it going?" I asked.

"It's going slow." Lovely, non-committal answers.

"You look tired."

"Long day."

"When will you be finished?"

"Later." Jeez, would it kill him to just give me a straight answer once?

"Don't you want to go to bed?" Fish, fish… He gave a quick look in the direction of the bedroom and I swear I saw some longing to throw down his pen and just go to sleep.

"After this is finished." This was discipline talking. I slowly got up and walked towards him. He looked wearily at me, probably wondering what I was up to. I smiled at him, but he didn't return it. I stopped when I was standing next to his desk.

"What is so important that you will pass up the opportunity to sleep in the same bed with me?" I asked playfully. Surprise flashed in his eyes for a moment.

"Babe." I moved to stand behind him and immediately he closed the file in front of him with one hand, while he moved to get up. I put my hands on his shoulders and pushed him to sit back down. I knew I was able to push him back because he allowed me too.

"Babe." It sounded like a warning. This guy really needed to learn how to relax! I squeezed his shoulders with both hands, feeling his strength.

"Relax, Ranger. I'm not going to kill you." I gently dug my fingers in his shoulders again, my thumbs making circular movements. I could feel the tension radiating of him, he wasn't giving in the massage at all.

"You just look like you could do with some sleep," I said, while looking at the back of his head. His hair was short at the moment, like he just had it cut. His neck was exposed and I moved my fingers further up, touching the bare skin of his neck. It felt very soft. Ranger still wasn't talking. Mmmm… Time for more persuasion… I leaned forward and planted a soft kiss just above the collar of his t-shirt on the side of his neck. He went rigid and his hands moved up to cover mine on his shoulders, stopping their massaging movement. I had no idea what was going on here, but my little massage didn't have the desired effect, at all! Better to withdraw before someone got hurt. And since that someone would most likely be me… I once again moved forward to whisper in his ear.

"I was just trying to get you to go to bed." I planted a soft kiss on his cheek and pulled my hands away and walked towards the bedroom. What the hell did just happen here?

_Ranger POV_

When Stephanie placed her hands on my shoulders, there was nothing more that I would like to do than to lean into her. But I had to finish this, my work was important. When she started massaging me it took all my discipline to stay still because it felt really nice after this long and tiring day. Maybe Aurelia had been on to something when she got Steph to take care of me. No, I am an independent man with a dangerous life. I don't need anybody to take care of me. Suddenly I felt her soft lips kissing my neck and my whole body responded to her sensual touch. I had to put a stop to this quickly, or I would be following her to the bedroom like a little dog tonight. I was surprised that such a little touch could get me so close to breaking point and it scared the hell out of me so I quickly stopped the delicious movement of her hands, trying to get myself back under control. Shit, my body was acting like I was a teenager again! When she whispered in my ear, I almost gave in, but somehow managed to stay in my seat. When the bedroom door closed softly behind her I finally let out the breath that I had been holding. It took some serious breathing exercises and relaxation techniques before I was able to concentrate on work again. It took me another 2 hours to finish all the paperwork and Steph was asleep when I crawled into the bed. I tried to keep my distance from her, but after 40 minutes of laying awake in the dark I gave in and cuddled her into me. She gave a small contented sigh and settled herself against me while I was left contemplating how to survive the next couple of days with her around. I felt like a hypocrite. I had admitted to myself that I loved her, but I still didn't want to give in to it. I was wishing everyday she would say she loved me, but when she came close I tried to push her away. I wanted her to spend time with me, but I didn't want her to interfere with my life. I really needed to finish that paperwork tonight. 'Yeah, right, Manoso. It's not like you couldn't do it tomorrow', I thought sarcastically. Why hadn't I followed her to the bedroom? It was what I had wanted, and to be honest, it was what my body needed. 'Yeah sure', a little voice in the back of my mind said, 'but you don't let somebody else decide for you. You planned on finishing that paperwork, so you finish it. You don't give in to the first sign of temptation'. And for the first time since a long time I cursed my military background.

**Chapter 13: Planning!**

When I woke up the next morning, I felt better again. I had fallen asleep as soon as my head had touched the pillow and I hadn't woken up at all, so I had no idea if Ranger actually had been in bed with me or not. When I looked at the alarm on the nightstand I saw it was already past 9 o'clock. I stretched and decided a nice long, hot shower was in order. I enjoyed the Bulgari shower gel and the lovely soft towels and found a clean t-shirt in the bag that Tank had dropped off and pulled it on together with jeans and a sweatshirt. I shuffled into the living room and found that Ella had left some breakfast for me. Living with Ranger had its perks! I was just munching on the final piece of bagel when my cell rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi Stephanie. It's Aurelia. How do you feel?"

"Hi Aurelia. I'm much better."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that." There was a small silence. I realised I was the one who had asked for her help yesterday, and deep down I still wanted it, but I was afraid to ask for it, because Ranger would be soooo pissed off if he ever found out. So how to proceed? Luckily Aurelia went right to the heart of the matter.

"Now, about you and Ricardo…"

"Yeah?"

"I think it is wonderful that you are finally going after him. You two will be such a wonderful couple. I mean, it is about time that Ricardo found a woman. He's been a hermit long enough." I almost choked on my coffee… Hermit??? Ranger??

"Um… yeah…" Really, what could I say to that?

_Aurelia POV_

Okay, maybe the hermit comment was pushing it, but I needed to make sure that Stephanie realised that Ricardo wasn't playing around anymore. If Steph ever found out about the number of women that Ricardo had paraded in front of us… well, lets just say she wouldn't like it. And I had formed a few wonderful plans to get them together. It wouldn't be difficult at all, since they already had the hots for each other! There were a few things that Ricardo didn't like. One of them was our annual family reunions.

We have a large family and once a year we gather together to catch up with everybody. The next one was planned 2 weeks from now, and so far Ricardo usually showed up just in time for dinner and left right after dessert. This would get mother of his back because he had been there, and he at least got dinner while listening to the endless questions about his life. Everybody in the family knew about his military background and his current business, and everybody always wanted to know about his exciting life. Ricardo always said that there was very little fun in fighting wars or dragging murderers back to prison, but everybody else thought differently. Hell, I saved lives on a daily basis, but you only needed to look at Ricardo to know that his life was still in a completely different league.

And of course non of the female family members were blind to his looks, much to Ricardo's irritation. Three years ago there had almost been a fight. Marco, a nephew, had brought his girlfriend. As soon as that woman had laid eyes on Ricardo, she was a goner. Marco was forgotten when she found out that Ricardo was single, and she had followed him wherever he went. First, Ricardo had spend some time talking to her, until her hands had wandered under the table during dinner. When he had made it clear to her that he wasn't interested because she was the girlfriend of a family member, she had started shouting he was molesting her. Marco, already pissed off at the lack of attention that he got from her, lunched at Ricardo. No need to tell you that that fight didn't last 5 seconds. Ricardo had made it clear to Marco he never laid a finger on his girlfriend, and that it was the woman who had been molesting him. (I'm sure he used other words, but well, you get the picture) He had left immediately after, saying he had gotten an emergency call from his company. We all knew it was a load of crap, but well… who could blame him? After that incident, he only came to eat and left immediately after, making sure he was always seated between male members of the family or his sisters or mother. Poor guy… Okay, maybe not.

But the upcoming reunion would be my first target. If I could get him to come AND bring Stephanie, that would be a huge victory. I already knew how to do it. Mother. I would mention to her that she shouldn't forget to ask Ricardo to come, and bring that lovely woman with him that was here around Dad's birthday. Of course Ricardo would protest gravely and then I would mention to him he should reconsider. Coming would mean the world to Mum and Dad, his true weak spot. Bringing Stephanie would deter any other women and he would get to show off a wonderful woman in front of his family. He would never admit it, but he liked to show off. He is a man, after all.

I explained it all to Stephanie, and she somehow seemed apprehensive about the whole reunion idea. I suppose meeting a whole family can be a little intimidating, but come on, you want Ricardo or you don't. In the end she said that she would come if Ricardo asked her. Good enough for me. I told her I would drop by later to check on her and Ricardo and mooch dinner. Stephanie asked if Ricardo would be okay with that. I answered: "Girl, we're a Cuban family. He doesn't have the option of saying no."

**Chapter 14: Hot food**

I knew that Aurelia was in my apartment when I entered, but I still didn't like it. She knew I didn't want her around, and she just kept coming back. She had never been this persistent in the past… It probably had to do with Stephanie being around. And because Stephanie was around, I wanted Aurelia miles away. She was spoiling the few quiet moments I could have with my Babe and it irritated me. I was tired and had a bad day, I didn't want to spend the evening watching every word I said. I wanted to spend the evening on the couch, in front of the tv, with Steph in my arms. And I sure as hell wouldn't be able to do that as long as Aurelia was around. Because if I so much as touched my Babe when Aurelia was near, I would never hear the end of it. I spend a few extra minutes in the shower trying to control myself, but it was a lost cause. I stepped out and grabbed a towel. My stomach was sore from the bullet that had lodged itself in the vest 2 days ago and I wasn't feeling really good at the end of the day. I knew this was the price I was paying for going straight back to work. I would feel tired longer because my body was still fighting the flu while I was out fighting with criminals. But I had a job to do and as long as I wasn't dying I was doing it. I realised my temper was flaring again when I pulled my t-shirt on with harsh moves, feeling my stomach muscles protest. Relax, Manoso. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. Jezus, I had faced life threatening situations for years without so much as a flinch, and my sister could get me riled up in 5 minutes. I was seriously lacking in skills.

When I opened my bedroom door to go into the living room, Aurelia was talking to Ella while they were laying the table together. Stephanie wasn't in the room. My guess was that she was using the bathroom in the hall.

"Have you cooked for the two of them before, Ella?" Aurelia was asking. That little #!#

"Yeah, Stephanie stayed here for a few days when her life was in danger." Oh no! Shit. Nobody in the family had known about those days.

"Oh really? Does Ricardo ever have other women up here?" Surprise was clear in Aurelia's voice.

"No, of course not, Aurelia. Ranger isn't like that at all. There has never been anybody but Stephanie. They make a lovely couple, don't they?" God, Ella was even a bigger gossip then Aurelia!

"Yeah. Shame they don't see it, huh?"

"Yes, real shame." I heard some sounds coming from the hall and Steph appeared, ending the conversation between Ella and Aurelia. Her eyes found mine and Aurelia and Ella turned to look at me.

"Dinner is ready, Ranger. I even made a nice fruit salad for desert," Ella said.

"Thank you, Ella." What else could I say?

Ella had indeed made a nice meal with chicken breast, mixed vegetables and wild rice. Even my Babe seemed to like it. I was busy trying to think of ways to get rid of Aurelia when she broke the silence.

"You have it all, Ricardo. A lovely house, money and the best cook in the world." I just gave her a look. Where was she going with this?

"The only thing missing is a woman." I glared at her, but still didn't say anything. Steph was suddenly very interested in her food.

"But then I heard from Ella that you have stayed here before, Stephanie?" Steph looked up with a 'deer caught in the headlights' expression.

"Eh… what?" she asked, flicking her eyes to me and back to Aurelia.

"Ella told me you were here when you're life was in danger." Dangerous gleam in the eyes of Aurelia. I was wondering how to end this without bloodshed.

"Oh, uhm. Yeah… But Ranger wasn't here then," Steph said, adding that last part as a quick afterthought.

"Ricardo, what's this? This woman's life was in danger and you're not around?"

"Aurelia!" It was the best I could do, adding a warning look. She just laughed at me and raised an eyebrow. Steph was back to studying her food.

"But Ella said you two were staying here together, Steph?" Aurelia was a master at this. She knew she wouldn't get anything out of me, so she turned her energy back on Steph. Steph choked on a piece of vegetable and turned bright red again. You got to love this woman, she flushes so easily. And I was happy to see that it was the memories of our time spend together here that brought it on. I responded instinctively.

"Babe," I said while grinning at her. She just flashed me an angry look.

"Wow, Steph. Has my brother been that nice to you?" Aurelia said with an insinuating laugh. Shit, I had forgotten about Aurelia for a moment.

"Aurelia!" I said, my voice making it clear that this was her last warning.   
"Hey, no need to get upset, big boy. Just making conversation here."

Yeah right. Just making conversation, my ass!

_Stephanie POV_

Why was Aurelia doing this? I thought she was supposed to help me get Ranger, not to make him mad at me! And all these questions were making him mad as hell, I could see that. The muscles in his jaw were tight and his whole body was rigid. He was doing his level best to stay calm but he wasn't fooling me. Aurelia seemed oblivious, and that made me seriously wonder about her health insurance. Did this woman know what Ranger could do when you pissed him off? Well, you had to hand it to her, she had guts. But it felt very uncomfortable to me! I tried to send her some kind of signal to end this, but she just smiled at me and gave me a wink. Oh shit, why did I ever think it was a good idea to let her help me get Ranger?? She's gonna get me killed!

_Aurelia POV_

I'm bad, but loving every moment of it. Ricardo and Stephanie are sooo easy to tease when they are together, it's almost no challenge anymore. Stephanie was sending an angry glare my way, but I just smiled back at her. No worries girl, I know what I'm doing. I think so, anyway.

"So, how are you feeling Stephanie?" I thought a change of subject was in order, to let Ricardo cool off a bit.

"Good," she mumbled. She's probably wondering where the catch is in that question. For me it was just nice to see Ricardo taking a good hard look at her to see if she was telling the truth.

"I'm glad you got your appetite back."

"Yeah, me too," she answered.

"I could do with a donut though," she said with a dreamy smile on her face.

"Babe, that stuff will kill you." My brother, the party man. She just glared at him.

"And how are you feeling, Ricardo?" Now it was Steph who was looking at him with a bit of worry in her eyes. God, they were sooo made for each other, it was almost scary.

"I'm fine." Yeah right. Even Steph gave a small snort at his answer, but then quickly returned her attention to her plate again when her response registered with her.

"I'll check both of you after dinner and then I'll let you enjoy your evening together," I said.

"Now, what's for desert?" I asked, to get the conversation going again.

"Ella brought fruit salad," Ricardo said. I got up and gathered the plates and walked into the kitchen. I returned with the fruit salad and 3 bowls and spoons. Steph seemed to think about declining, but in the end accepted the bowl I held in front of her. After I gave all three of us a bowl I sat down again. The salad had several types of fruit in there, mostly red summer fruit such as strawberries, raspberries and red currents. Steph picked out a large strawberry and took a bite out of it, looking at Ricardo. Ricardo actually had been doing the same thing and for a moment the air sizzled with electricity between them. Their eyes got this sexy look in them and I was obviously forgotten. Yikes… Talk about attraction! You could see them undressing each other in their minds, moving this little party into the bedroom.

"You guys want whipped cream with that?" I asked innocently.

**Chapter 15: Getting closer**

Stephanie's head snapped back up, blushing furiously again, while Ricardo slowly bowed his head and closed his eyes, breathing slowly. I had to try real hard to smother my laughter. This was just so amusing. I had never seen Ricardo react to a woman like this. It was like he was a horny teenager again, following his you-know-what around. (And according to my friends he had an excellent you-know-what. I had screamed through any other information regarding that particular body part of Ricardo, but several had mentioned it so I think it is only fair to let you know, despite the 'yyyeeeeewwww, he's my brother, do not tell me these things!' factor in it.)

"Don't you have to leave?" Ricardo gritted out. Oh, he wanted me gone alright.

"No hurry, I have the evening off," I said with a smile. Huge glare from Ricardo.

The rest of the dessert was eaten in silence. I suspected that they were both afraid of what might come out of their mouths when they opened it. Me, I was just letting them stew for a while, enjoying the tension that hung in the air thoroughly. After we were finished I sent them both to the couch while I cleaned up.

"It's no problem, guys. Just take it easy. You're both recovering from the flu."

I was curious to see where they would sit, and more than happy to see that they sat down next to each other on the couch. There was still a decent space between them, but at least Ricardo hadn't opted for the cowards' choice of a chair. This choice held potential. I washed everything up and put it back on the tray so Ella could take it down later tonight. I might have taken a bit longer then absolutely necessary, but that had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Stephanie and Ricardo seemed to scoot closer and closer on the couch. Not at all, I just like to wash the dishes thoroughly. Honest! It's my biggest hobby, washing up! Mmm, didn't think you'd believe that one either, but still.

Soft music was playing and by now Ricardo had pulled Steph against him. Her head was on his shoulder and his arm was around her, softly stroking her arm. Sweet. I didn't want to disturb them, so I made some coffee and tea without asking if they wanted any. I made some herbal tea for Ricardo and guessed that Steph looked more like a coffee person. I took the mugs with me and walked into the living room. Steph shot up and pulled away from Ricardo. Damn. It earned me anther glare from Ricardo, probably missing the contact with Stephanie already. Don't worry, dear brother, it won't be long before you can hold her all you want. If you would just work with me!

"Feeling tired, Steph?" I asked softly while placing the mugs on the coffee table. Stephanie just nodded.

"It's normal, you're still fighting the flu. Listen to your body." She just nodded again. I grabbed my bag and extracted a few items, feeling both Stephanie's and Ricardo's eyes on me.

"Let me check you guys and then I'll be on my way." I kneeled in front of Stephanie and asked her to open her mouth. I looked at her throat and listened to her heart and lungs. Finally I took her temperature, which was still elevated, but nowhere near fever. She was doing much better.

"You feeling better?" I asked her.

"Yes, my throat is almost back to normal and I don't feel as hot as before."

"That's good. Your fever is gone, but your temperature is still elevated. Give yourself another two days to completely recover, okay?" Steph nodded, but I could see her thinking about how fast she could start working again, so I turned to look at Ricardo.

"I'll make sure she rests for another 2 days," Ricardo said. Steph glared at him, but he just smiled.

"Humpf."

"Babe," Ricardo said.

"Steph, just enjoy another 2 days in Hotel Manoso. You have room service, all luxury you could wish for, and Ricardo himself. What more do you want?" I gave her a meaningful glance and saw her go through the list that I just named.

"Okay, if you think it's necessary…" she sighed. I couldn't believe my ears! Girl, do you want the guy or not? My friends would kill for a situation like this, and she was trying to get away! Ricardo laughed softly and pulled her against him.

"Babe. Yes, it is necessary and I'll make sure you rest for a few more days."

"That's easy for you to say, you're working again, making money and chasing criminals. I sit here, watching television, waiting to get better."

"Patience, Babe." He gave her a quick kiss against her forehead, and Steph relaxed in his embrace. And I saw the perfect opportunity to push Ricardo's buttons again.

"Why don't you lay down on the couch, Steph? Take a nice nap," I said, while I grabbed the afghan. Steph seemed unsure of what to do and Ricardo made a move to get up.

"No need to get up, Ricardo. Steph, just use him as a pillow, he won't mind." Steph looked at Ricardo, unsure, but just as I suspected, Ricardo gave her a small nod. He wanted her close, I could tell by the look in his eyes! She slowly put her head on his leg and pulled her feet up on the other end. I put the afghan over her and she snuggled in. Ricardo's hand found her hair and he played with it absentmindedly while I pretended to be busy with something. Just as he was comfortable I turned around again and said:

"Your turn, Ric."

"I'm fine, Aurelia," he said. And for once Steph helped me.

"Oh, that's not fair, Ranger. I have to do everything Aurelia says and you won't even let her check you." Yes, you go girl! I looked at Ricardo's face and he seemed surprised for a moment. I was just hoping that Ricardo wouldn't want to leave his place on the couch, with Steph cuddled against him.

"That's right, Ricardo," I said. He glared at me, but I could see that I was going to win this one. He really didn't want to leave his position on the couch. He was in luuurrrvvee! Aw, sweet.

"Fine. But make it quick," he gritted out.

"Sure. Just take your shirt off." With a deep sigh he moved his hands up and pulled his shirt over his head. Steph looked at him from her position on his lap and her eyes glazed over. She had it bad for him too.

I listened to his heart and lungs and took his temperature as well. Heart and lungs were fine, but his temperature was slightly higher than normal. Mmmm. Then I looked at the bruise on his stomach once more. It was dark and large, but there appeared to be no further damage. The man is made of steel.

"Your temperature is a bit high," I said. He didn't say anything, but Steph was looking at him with worry on her face. They were so caring towards each other it made my heart warm up.

"You should take it easy for a few days," I continued. He just nodded, and we both knew it wasn't going to happen.

"The flu could return, you know," I added. He just looked at me, willing me to leave.

"I'm fine, Aurelia. Really." Yeah, he looked fine, with Steph laying on his lap and his hand tenderly going through her curls.

"Well, I'll be leaving now. No need to get up, I'll find my way out." I gave both Ricardo and Steph a quick kiss on the cheek and grabbed my stuff.

I didn't fail to notice that Ricardo had left his shirt off.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 16: Kisses, caresses… **

I waited until I heard the front door close before I believed it that Aurelia was really gone. Finally I could relax a little, I had already given much more away than I had intended too… Steph had that effect on me, she made me forget my surroundings… go figure. I looked down and found Steph's blue eyes studying me. They were large and blue and I could see several emotions in them. I just looked back, taking in her lovely face, deliciously shaped mouth and riot curls. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever known. We stayed like that for a while and suddenly she spoke up.

"Aren't you getting cold?"

_Stephanie POV_

I couldn't believe myself. Of all the things I could say, I say this? I loved to look at him, the man was perfection, and then I open my mouth and I say 'aren't you getting cold?' What is wrong with me?

"Babe." A hint of a smile was playing at the corners of his mouth. I was amusing him. Sigh.

"You heard Aurelia, you're still recovering from the flu too," I said in my defence. His eyes hardened at me mentioning her name, but after a split second that disappeared and he looked like he thought about smiling again.

"You worried about me, Babe?" Hell, only every day of the week, but who's keeping score.

"Maybe." His smile grew into the 200 watt smile.

"Cute."

"Cute?!" Excuse me? But Ranger just looked at me, eyes smiling but otherwise unreadable. Ugh, I really wanted to learn ESP one day.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll put my shirt back on," he said, while looking at me, waiting for me to answer. Shit, this was so unfair. I didn't want him to put his shirt back on, I wanted to look at his beautiful chest a bit longer and maybe feel a few of those muscles and that delicious mocha latte skin and… sigh… I think my eyes glazed over. But if I said I didn't want him to put his shirt back on, he would probably have some sexy remark ready, one that I didn't know how to respond to. I mean: Aurelia said he was in love with me, but it wasn't Aurelia's heart that was on the line. (Okay, maybe her life was at stake after the stunts she kept pulling, but that was her own choice!) And of course he would then probably insinuate I'd let him catch a cold because I wanted to look at his body…

"Babe," he said on a smile. Something told me he knew exactly what had been going on in my mind, and I was amusing him. I just glared at him, not much more I could do that wouldn't embarrass me any further.

"You flatter me, Babe," he said. My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. He chuckled, but did grab his t-shirt and pulled it back on again while I took one last wistful look at his body before it was covered in black again.

I was still mourning the loss of that smooth dark skin when Ranger bent forward and gave me a soft kiss on my lips. Mmmm, this was nice. He held my eyes with his own brown ones when he bend forward again, and our lips met in another soft and sensual kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. I felt how his strong arms encircled me and when he deepened his kiss I felt myself melt inside. The kiss soon became more frantic and my whole mind was filled with naked Ranger thoughts when he suddenly pulled back and softly whispered in my ear.

"Let's get you to bed, you're still recovering from the flu."

**Chapter 17: … and a cold shower**

Ranger gently lifted me of the couch and I snuggled into his arms. Mmm, this was nice! And he was taking me to bed, this was good! But then he gently laid me on the bed, covered me up, clothed and all and turned away. What the….?! Why wasn't he taking his clothes off? Why wasn't he taking my clothes off? What was going on here? Where was he going? Suddenly I heard a chuckle and turned my head towards the sound. Ranger was standing at the door, looking at me, his lips turned up.

"Babe." I glared at him and then flopped back down on the bed. I could feel the blush creeping itself up to my face and sighed. Why was he always capable of reading my mind? Especially when it came to my private sexual thoughts. Life wasn't fair.

I heard some rustling of clothing and Ranger appeared in my line of vision again, standing beside the bed. He sank through his knees so that his face was level with mine on the pillow and looked at me, his eyes smiling.

"Babe, you're still recovering from the flu. You need to rest."

"Fine," I grunted.

"Don't be angry, please!" he said pleadingly, his eyes still smiling. I just looked at him, not sure how to respond to that. He bowed forward until his face was very close.

"Believe me, there is nothing that I'd like to do more than to get in bed next to you, but you are still not feeling too good." His breath was soft and warm against my cheek and I shivered.

"I feel fine," I said indignantly. Another chuckle.

"Sure, just like me." I remembered that Aurelia had said something about his temperature being elevated and I knew he was tired.

"If you feel so bad, then why aren't you in bed with me?" I said triumphantly. He seemed to consider my words for a moment.

"You're right." And with these words he kicked off his shoes, climbed over me and crawled under the blankets with me. I had expected him to cuddle me close, but he didn't and I felt very disappointed. What was going on here? First he kisses me like there is no tomorrow and now he doesn't want to touch me? I turned on my side and looked at him. He was laying on his back with his eyes closed, but he wasn't fooling me, he wasn't asleep. The corners of his mouth were turned up again. He was playing with me, the bastard! Humpf! I was about to turn away from him again, when an idea popped into my head. I shouldn't let him push my buttons so easily! According to Aurelia he really loved me, but I wasn't convinced yet. I wanted to hear him say it and prove it to me, and playing with me didn't do it for me. He might like it, but I sure as hell didn't!

So I slid my hand under the blanket and let it travel towards his stomach. When I touched his side Ranger stilled and I slowly moved my hand up until it was laying in the middle of his stomach. He still had his t-shirt on, but I could feel his muscles through the thin material. My hand started to feel around, slowly sliding up over his broad chest, moving across it and then down again on the other side. I went all the way down, over the top of his pants and felt the muscles of his thigh. Then my hand moved across, and I felt him hard underneath my hand. The smile had left his face, but he still had his eyes closed.

"Do you find me attractive, Ranger?" I asked, my hand still resting on the bulge in his pants. He didn't move and didn't answer me. Suddenly anger bubbled up in me. He was playing with me all day long if he wanted to, but when I called his bluff he didn't like it. Well, that wasn't going to fly today. I felt pissed off because I had looked forward to some serious Ranger cuddling and kissing earlier on, and he had just dumped me in the bed, saying I still had to recover from the flu when it became too heated for his liking. Well, maybe a bit of cuddling and kissing would have helped me!

"Do you, Ranger?" I squeezed him through his pants and his eyes opened and looked at me, black and dilated.

"Babe." Warning tone. Well, newsflash, I wasn't afraid of him today. Don't ask me why, I'll probably regret it tomorrow, but right now I wasn't impressed at all.

"Ranger," I said calmly.

Suddenly there was a blur of movement and I was pinned beneath him, my hands held above my head in his and his face centimeters away from mine. I met his eyes and hoped they showed the calm determination that I felt to get an honest answer to my question.

"Just answer my question," I said while looking at him. His eyes were unreadable, blank mask in place. Jeez, this guy had a hard time sharing anything! What was he thinking that I was asking him? It wasn't like I was asking him to marry me, or to even confess to any degree of loving me. I asked him if he though if I was an attractive woman, and frankly I thought I already knew the answer. I mean: he had been kissing me and dropping hints on a regular basis for a few years now. I just liked to hear him say it straight to me for once, but I didn't feel like that was going to happen.

It made me wonder if he was capable of any kind of relationship. If you can't even tell a woman you think she is attractive while she has her hands on your desire, is in your bed and lives in your house, well what can you share then? Having a relationship is more than _thinking_ about how much you love someone, or how good looking they are or how much you admire their character. It is about sharing, saying it and hearing it. A sad feeling settled in me. Maybe Aurelia was right in her assessment that Ranger loved me, but I didn't get the impression that he was ready for any kind of relationship. Maybe he shouldn't have said that his lifestyle didn't lend itself to relationships, maybe he should have said HE didn't lend HIMSELF to relationships. I decided to give it one last try before drawing any conclusions.

"Are you going to answer me?" I asked, looking at his dark and blank eyes. He kept on looking for a while.

"Yes or no, Ranger. Are you going to answer my question?" I said in a slightly more impatient tone while looking at him. Suddenly his lips crashed down on mine and he was kissing me feverishly. Hot desire washed through me until a voice in the back of my mind said: he STILL didn't answer your question. I turned my head away from him and spoke up again.

"This isn't going to help you. Just answer the friggin' question!" I felt incredulous and was getting really angry now, and very confused. Usually he made it no secret that he found me attractive, that he wanted to sleep with me, that he liked me and even loved me in his own way. But when I asked him to say it to me, he behaved like I was asking him to tell me his deepest, darkest secrets. What was going on here?

He suddenly rolled off me and sat on the edge of the bed with his back to me. I could see the tension in his spine.

"I don't have to justify myself towards you, Stephanie." What?! What was he talking about? That was his answer? Unfortunately his phone rang at that precise moment and he was of course more than happy to answer it. He walked out of the room and seconds later I heard the door of the apartment close.

That was it. The little incident earlier when I had tried to give him a massage flashed through my mind and I knew I could only come up with one conclusion. He might love me, but he didn't want a relationship. Or maybe he wanted one, but he wasn't capable of a relationship. So with a deep sigh and a very sad feeling inside of me I started to gather my stuff. There was no reason for me to stay here after tonight. I was feeling much better and Ranger had just made his position very clear. I felt two big tears roll down my cheeks and sighed deeply. Shit, shit, shit. I couldn't get the tears to stop falling, so I just mechanically walked through the apartment to collect all my stuff, tears dripping from my chin. With one last look at the apartment I closed the door behind me and pushed the button for the elevator. I stepped in and realized I was on camera. Well, nothing I could do about that now and frankly I didn't care. Actually, I hoped he was watching, seeing the tears. Maybe for once he'd realize that this might all be a game to him, but it wasn't to me. Maybe he'd feel guilty, maybe he'd feel… Oh, I don't know.

I guessed that Ranger would have had my car brought to Haywood and when the elevator doors opened in the garage, I saw I had been right. I got in and slowly drove out of the garage. I didn't know if I was disappointed that he hadn't tried to stop me or that it just confirmed my believes. Mostly I just felt empty.

When I was laying in my bed that night the evening kept replaying in my head. How had such a simple question turned into such a disaster?

**Chapter 18: Considerations**

When I came back to the apartment I knew that Steph had left. I had watched her leave on the monitors in the control room, under the watchful eye of Tank. The tears were clearly visible on her face and I felt like a prick. What had happened just now?

"Aren't you going to stop her?" Tank had asked, studying me.

"No."

"She's crying."

"I can see that."

"She crying because of you?" His tone said it better not be that way.

"How do I know, women cry all the time." I was feeling defensive, and Tank picked up on that straight away.

"What did you do, Ranger?" I just gave him a look that made it clear that this conversation was over and walked away towards my office. When I was at the door leaving the control room I thought I heard a coughed 'coward' but I chose to believe that that was my imagination because I didn't feel like taking on Tank tonight. The call hadn't been that important, but it had given me a way out of the conversation with Stephanie. I worked in my office for another hour until I couldn't find any other excuse to keep me busy and went back up.

As soon as I opened the door the emptiness hit me. Steph was gone, the spirit of my Babe had left. She had taken all her stuff with her and it made the apartment look empty. No sweater over the back of the couch, no shoes in the hall, no t-shirt on the bed. 'Isn't that what you wanted?' a little voice said in the back of my mind, 'You felt pressured by her, you don't need that from anybody, so it's good that she left'. Then why did I feel bad in stead of good. I was frustrated with myself. How could I be so indecisive? What was the matter with me? I stood in the middle of the living room and looked around. She had left the apartment spotless, everything was back in its place… and I hated it.

I laced my hands behind my head and just stood there. Why hadn't I answered her? Why couldn't I just say to her: 'yes, I think you're a very attractive woman?' It's not world news, I've been kissing and craving her for ages. But when she asks me straight up I deflect. Why? 'Because you're scared shitless' the little voice in my mind said. 'Because you don't want her to start asking questions, you want to keep her at arms length because you're afraid of loosing control', my brain observed. Jeez, had I really turned into such a control freak? I always thought of myself as a very flexible person. Clients could call me day or night, I had no regular hours, I was always available, also to Stephanie. 'Yeah, but you're still in control then, aren't you?' my brain went on. 'That is all work related, nothing personal or emotionally difficult. But look at how you freaked out when you're daughter was kidnapped. You needed to know Steph's whereabouts 24/7 because you were afraid something would happen to her. That had nothing to do with work, that had to do with you, with how you felt about her. You know that a relationship means sharing, answering questions, explaining yourself, and surprises, especially with Stephanie. And you don't like surprises, you like things organized and predictable.'

Okay, so maybe I did. But that didn't explain my current deflated feeling. I rubbed my face with both hands and sighed deeply. If I was really, brutally honest with myself I knew what this was about. I already loved her, I already wanted her with me, regardless of the price, I even had already admitted that to myself. The reason I kept doing and saying these stupid and hurtful things to her was that I was trying to sabotage the relationship. And I was trying to sabotage the relationship so I could tell myself there were plenty of reasons that this didn't work out, that it was my lifestyle, my life, that it was impossible to be with a woman, that it was… fuck… anything really so I wouldn't have to admit the one thing that I didn't want to admit…

That I had no idea about how to build a relationship.

This was one area in life in which I had NO experience or expertise AT ALL, despite popular believe. Hell, I had no CONFIDENCE at all when it came to relationships. No CLUE about any of it, really. Sex, sure, no problem. I've done anything and everything. But love…

Well, how nice of my brain to explain my predicament to me.

"This isn't helping me shit!" I told my brain out loud and then I almost rolled my eyes because I was talking to myself. Yikes, I was loosing it fast. I walked towards the couch and dropped down, shaking my head to clear it and turned on the tv, hoping to find something… ANYTHING… to distract me from this internal debate. If this went on any longer I would have no self confidence left!

_Tank POV_

When Ranger walked out I knew that something had happened and that Ranger was responsible for the tears on Stephs' face. When was he ever going to learn how to treat that woman? It really wasn't that hard, but he made it look like rocket science. Even worse, he wasn't man enough to admit it and to ask for advice. There are plenty of guys at Rangeman with long-lasting relationships and successful marriages, me included. And we would be happy to explain a few things to him, without thinking he was weak, stupid or anything like that. Did he really think we just one day woke up and suddenly knew how to build a serious relationship? If I think back to the early days with my woman, Jenny, I still cringe. The reason she is still with me is more despite of me than because of me. And because she was blinded by love she said, so she was pretty forgiving in the beginning. And I learned, bit by bit. It took us a long time to build a solid foundation, but now that we had, it was wonderful. And I truly hoped that Steph would get to experience that with Ranger … probably more despite Ranger than because of Ranger considering the way he was acting now… Because he was just being plain arrogant and a big bastard. And for the first time I decided to go against Ranger. His glance at me before he left had made it clear that this was not to be mentioned again, but I couldn't let this go on. So I grabbed my phone and called his sister. I knew I was gonna pay big time, but I just hoped it would be worth it and that he would thank me in the end.

**Chapter 19: The next plan**

Oh dear God! That stupid, stupid brother of mine! I couldn't believe my ears when Tank rang me to tell me that Stephanie had just left. He was saying something about me being her doctor and the flu and so on, but I wasn't fooled. He wanted me to know that something had happened between Ricardo and Steph and that Steph had left upset because of that. So Tank and I had a nice little chat about Ricardo's stupidity and how to fix their relationship. He promised he would work on things from his end while I would do my bit. I have to say, I admired Tank for his guts, because I can tell you that prying into Ricardo's personal life might get me a few angry conversations, but Tank was looking at a whole different problem. More like physical damage and so on…

I went to the bookstore that same evening, and found just what I needed!

_Ranger POV_

Monday morning, 8 am

I eyed the package on my desk with distrust. It had been there when I came in this morning and there was no sender on it. The crew hadn't received any delivery overnight, so someone from my team must have put it there. It didn't look suspicious, so in the end I gave in to my curiosity and opened it.

What the…?!

It was a book. Now, I like to read, but not THIS! This was a self help book… about RELATIONSHIPS… And it was called: Relationships for dummies. I grabbed my phone to call the one person that could be responsible for this.

"How dare you!" No need to be polite to family.

"Ricardo. Good morning. How are you, did you sleep well?"

"Answer my question, Aurelia," I gritted out.

"Question about what exactly, Ricardo?" she said softly, while I could hear the smile in her voice. That little…&(&8

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!," I was shouting.

"Do tell me…," she said teasingly. I could feel my teeth grind. She was fearless and she was once again pushing my buttons. And she had me cornered once again. Damn it, I was making myself look like an amateur here. I got riled up over a book my sister send me!

"The book, Aurelia! You send it."

"Yeah, that's right. Do you like it?" I was momentarily stunned that she so easily admitted to sending the book until her question registered. DID I LIKE IT?

"I don't need it. Stay out of my life, Aurelia!" I shouted.

"Oh Ricardo, I think you need all the help you can get," she said softly but seriously this time and then hung up. I looked at the phone in stunned disbelief and anger before slamming it down on my desk.

I heard a snicker and I looked up to see Tank standing in the doorway of my office.

"Everything okay, Ranger?" he asked, while walking into my office.

"Everything's fine, Tank," I said, while glaring at him.

"Interesting book, that," Tank said grinning, while pointing at the book on my desk. Shit! I was never going to live this down if word ever got out about this book. I grabbed the book and shoved it into a drawer.

"You so much as hint at that book again…" I growled. I left the rest hanging in the air, the threat was clear anyway. Tank looked at me long and hard and his eyes spoke volumes about how much he thought I needed that book. In the end I actually averted my eyes and looked down to some papers in front of me.

"Did you came here with a specific purpose?" I asked while pretending to be busy reading paperwork.

"Nope," he said, smiling again.

"Then get your ass back to work," I said.

"Yes, boss," he said, mock saluting me and still smiling. He had called my bluff. He was a good friend and even though I am the owner and manager of Rangeman, I didn't usually boss him around. I saw him as my equal and valued his advice in any matter. The only reason why I was behaving this way was because I felt vulnerable and I hated that. So I wanted to draw a line that he couldn't cross as an employee. Tank, of course, didn't buy it. He knew that as one of my best friends, he could say these things and get away with it. Because that was what friends do. I watched Tanks retreating back when he suddenly turned around, door already in his hand.

"You know, Jenny gave me that book 3 months into our relationship. I think it is a great help for clueless, commitment fearing, headstrong men who have no idea about how to build a relationship." He flashed me another smile and then quickly closed the door so the pencil that I threw at him didn't hit him. He opened the door once more, smiling widely.

"Tank," I growled my warning. He was pushing me, and I don't like to be pushed.

"I'm serious, Ranger. Read it, you might learn something." I made a move to get up to go after him and he quickly closed the door behind him and I could hear him walking away this time.

I sat down again and put my head in my hands, rubbing my face in frustration. After a while my right hand moved itself to the drawer and opened it, and I sat looking at the book for a long time. This was supposed to come naturally to me! I was Cuban, for crying out loud. Okay, I actually was a natural lover… 'but admit it,' that little annoying voice in my mind said, 'you're relationship skills suck'. I sighed deeply and once again rubbed my face, kicking the drawer close with my foot.

What was becoming of the world when Cuban men started to need relationship advice?

**Chapter 20: Bedtime stories**

Monday 8 p.m.

My doorbell rang, so I knew it couldn't be Ranger. Ranger never rang the doorbell, he just entered to scare the shit out of me. Still, I did check the peephole to make sure. It was a boy from a courier service. Hhmmmm. Curiously I opened the door.

"Ms. Stephanie Plum?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"I've got a package for you. Please sign here." He held out his pad to me and I scribbled my name down. He took the pad back and gave me the package.

"Have a nice day," he said and he was gone. I closed the door and looked at the package. It was a small, rectangular package. I flopped down on the couch and looked at it a little longer. Okay, I was just too curious to think about this any more, so I started to tear open the paper and saw that the package was a book.

'Why men are pigs' it said on the cover. Ha, that describes Ranger! There was a funny picture on it of a large pink pig that looked helplessly into the camera and I couldn't help but laugh when I thought about Ranger and seeing this large pink pig. Then I read the subtitle: 'how to transform a pig into a loving man'. Oookaaaay… Then I saw the small card that was included in the package. It was a handwritten card with a picture of two pink pigs on the front that were laying closely together. On the back it said: go get the pig! I didn't recognize the handwriting, but that didn't mean much. I had a suspicion about who it might have been. The name Aurelia immediately popped into my head… That would mean that she knew about what happened between Ranger and me and still thought that we would be perfect together. Well, I didn't buy that. I actually really thought that flirting was all that Ranger was really capable off. Every time things got a bit more serious he would end it in some way. But the book did intrigue me, and although I'm not much of a reader, I did read the back of it to see what it was about.

Hmm, turns out the author was a big scaredy cat when his girlfriend asked him to move in with her, and started behaving like a pig to get her away from him. But in the end he realised he would loose more than he wanted, and faced his fears. And was now married to mentioned girlfriend with a baby on the way. Right. And then he decided to write a book to explain to women how to recognize 'pig behaviour' in men and why men actually behaved like that. And most importantly: 'to help him overcome his fears to create a loving boyfriend in stead of a scared screaming piglet'. Hmmmm… Riiiggghhtt… Oookkkaaayyy… What to think of this?

I opened the book and saw that the chapters were all related to a stage in a pigs life, starting with 'the little pink worm', followed by 'the screaming piglet' all the way through to 'father pig and his piglets'. Oh, why not read it. If it was boring I could put it away and never look at it again. So I started reading 'the little pink worm' and was quickly fascinated by it. It was written in a direct and funny style and the guy who wrote it was brutally honest about his own behaviour. He came from a traditional family and had been spoiled rotten when he was a kid because he was the oldest son. This had made him think that he could get away with anything. Then, when he had hit puberty he had learned the hard way that not all families were traditional anymore. That a lot of the girls had their own ideas about the future, and that a career was included in that. And that they expected certain things from him, like participation in the housework. He had been shocked! And so he had started to equate relationships and marriage with giving up your life, basically. When he was 18 he had vowed to himself to never marry or get into a serious relationship, so he would always keep his freedom. That had worked fine for him until he was 23 and met Suzy…

That was where the first chapter ended. Summarizing it in the last paragraph, the writer, named John, stated that many men still thought that they would have to give up a lot for a relationship and that they felt they would tie themselves down in a way they didn't want too. Most of that came from observing their situation at home. '_A lot of children grow up in a situation where they don't have a good role model for what a relationship should be like, nor how to achieve it. How many of us are from a broken family these days, with ugly divorce proceedings and arguments about money and children? This can make a big impression on a young boy and might have everlasting effects.' _

'_And especially younger men like to keep their sexual options open because in this society for some mysterious reason it is still often considered 'cool' when a man has had many different partners. That in reality there is nothing fun or cool about waking up beside a woman you don't really remember the name of, is something that most men will never admit, let alone think about the health hazards of this behaviour.'_

'_What I'm trying to say, dear ladies, is that the pig behaviour your boyfriend is portraying today, might well be, to some extend, related to how he perceived relationships when he was still a piglet.'_

Mmm, John might be on to something here… I actually wondered what Rangers' childhood had been like… Maybe it was time to give Aurelia a call… But first it was time for bed. It was already past 11, I had been so fascinated by the book that I had read the whole evening. I would read chapter 2 tomorrow and see what kind of information I could get from Aurelia about Ranger when he was still a 'piglet'. I couldn't help but laugh out loud again. I felt much better now. I had been really depressed the last couple of days because of what had happened between Ranger and me. But thinking about him in terms of pig and piglet made me smile.

Meanwhile in 'the Batcave' 

I dumped my stuff on the desk and kicked my shoes off. It had been a long day and I was glad to be home. I hadn't been home that often lately and I had missed my privacy. I would have to work for a few hours later tonight, but first I went into the kitchen to make something to eat. Or to heat up the meal that I bought on the way home. It was healthy and fresh, and it only needed 8 minutes in the microwave, so perfect for me.

While the microwave did its work, I looked around my house. It was a very modern, open plan bungalow with glass walls on 3 sides, stainless steel and wood. I had designed it myself together with a friend who was an architect. Basically it was one large space, not one internal wall. I had used screens and furniture to divide the space, but there were no separate rooms. The whole house had a modern, light coloured wooden floor, with large rugs in the sitting area, sleeping area and bathroom area. The main colours were cream, deep red and black and I felt at home. All my personal things were here. Pictures from my family and close friends, memorabilia from my time in the army, books, DVD's, music.

I had always wanted to live in a penthouse in a busy city, but that was impossible to keep secure, so I had basically created my own ground floor penthouse, but still with breathtaking views of the city. It had taken some time to find the right location, but this was perfect. The back of the house was built into a hill, so my house was invisible from the road and I was overlooking some forest and beyond that I could see all the way to the city down below. I loved to watch the lights in the night sky, they made me feel calm and relaxed. I had built a large deck all around 3 sides of the house, and there was a pool including a hot tub. The only thing that was build separately from the house was the gym, which was in a small building to the left, build in the same style as the bungalow with lots of glass. It still had the views, so the home trainer and treadmill faced the city side, the weight bench faced the garden and the punch bag hung in the middle. It also had a shower and sauna, with the sauna looking over the forest. I had made sure that nobody could see into my house by using a special plastic coating on each panel of glass that made it impossible to look in, while I could still look out. And I had bought much more land around the house than that I was currently using, to make sure nobody could build close to me. High, spiked fences, camera's and motion detectors kept my place secure.

The microwave beeped and I went to retrieve my meal. I had just finished eating when the book on top of the stack of folders on my desk caught my eye. For once, Aurelia had been right in her choice. I was a 'dummy' when it came to relationships. But my pride had kept me so far from doing something about it. But the book was tempting. Nobody would know, since nobody came here. And if I didn't like it, I could throw it away. And Tank had mentioned that the book had helped him. If Tank was man enough to admit to needing help, maybe I should too…

I got up and read the cover. 'The complete guide for everybody who doesn't have a clue about relationships, but would like one'. Mmmm, that would be me… I checked the titles of the chapters and saw some subjects that I definitely would like to know more about. Like 'Do's and don'ts' and 'Sharing yourself'. I found out that Aurelia had gotten me the 'male version' of the book. I decided to finish work first, but put it on my nightstand to read before I went to sleep.

Maybe for once I should be thanking Aurelia for her interference…

Mmm, better not thank her out loud...


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 21: Good and bad ways to start the day**

I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face. I was wondering why and then remembered the dreams that I had had. They had been filled with little pink piglets wearing black clothes. I had been myself in this dream, and every day I would go out to the shed behind my house and feed the piglets. Some of them would be really nice to me, coming close to the fence and wanting to be cuddled. But one was always sitting in the corner, back to the wall, looking angrily at me. For some reason I had given the piglets very familiar names, and piglet Lester and piglet Bobby had been real fond of the cuddling part, as had a piglet named Joe been. No surprises there… They were waiting for me every morning at the fence, ready to fed and watered. But piglet Ranger was the one in the back and never came up to the fence. There was also a big piglet, called Tank, who had looked like he was smiling all the time. One morning I had been cuddling piglet Joe and when I had put him back, piglet Ranger had attacked him. I had raced into the shed, grabbed piglet Joe and held him close to me while looking angrily at piglet Ranger.

"Bad boy!" I had shouted at piglet Ranger, who had sat down in the corner again. I then had looked at piglet Joe and I swear piglet Joe was smiling smugly at piglet Ranger. I had put piglet Ranger in a separate cage to prevent any further attacks, and it had quietly sat in the back for the rest of the day. The next morning I had fed the others again, and then had checked on piglet Ranger. For the first time he had been standing close to the fence and had looked at me with big eyes. I had fed it and carefully caressed it and it seemed to like it. But then when I had picked it up to cuddle close to me, he had bitten me in my finger. I had yelled at piglet Ranger again, and he had just sat there, looking at me.

I stretched and realised that the dream had given me some insight in what had been happening in the past few years. Ranger behaved towards others like I was 'his woman', but when _I_ behaved like 'his woman', he would say something that would hurt me enough to back off again. But when I was interested in another man, Ranger would make sure he was keeping a real close eye on that person and would suddenly find a reason to give himself a prominent position in my life again. Until this other guy backed off. Then Ranger would back off as well, leaving me utterly clueless, frustrated and angry. And then he would just sit there, looking at me with eyes saying: you knew my lifestyle doesn't lend itself to relationships, so what did you expect? And I had backed off… Stupid me. Ranger was just a jealous pig! And boy, was he scared of commitment!

This last thought made me realise that for once I had found something that Ranger feared and I didn't. Commitment. The fearless ex-Special Forces guy was afraid of relationships… BIG TIME! I snorted out loud and then hopped out of bed. I had some calls to make… Maybe there was hope for me and Ranger after all.

_Meanwhile in the Batcave_…

I woke up because of some beeping noises that sounded vaguely familiar. I realised I had a giant headache, stiff neck and was chilled to the bone and when I started to move I realised I wasn't in my bed. I slowly sat up and looked around me. I was sitting behind my desk, where I apparently had fallen asleep. My laptop was still switched on, and documents were laying on the printer. I looked down at my desk, and saw the book that Aurelia had send me. It was open and I had been using it as a pillow. Slowly, it all came back to me.

After I had finished work around 11 pm, I had taken a quick shower and slipped under the covers. I had been reading for maybe 5 minutes when my phone rang. I cursed and answered it. It turned out to be an informant of mine, who had some interesting information about an FTA. He said he would send it to me a.s.a.p. so I had powered up my computer again and had continued reading behind my desk while keeping an eye on my email. The book had been really good, actually. The first chapter had been about the conditions that had to be met before there was even a possibility of a relationship.

_If you're not interested in commitment, you can stop reading here because you do not really want a relationship. If you're not interesting in sharing yourself with someone, why do you want to be with someone? Let's face it, you just want sex then. But if you really want to find a partner to share your life with, someone that you can offer trust, support, friendship, love, joy and commitment, you should read on. This book will offer you practical insights as to why you have not yet achieved this, and gives you clear advice on how to build a relationship with the woman of your dreams. _

Since I had already admitted to myself that I wanted a real relationship with Stephanie, and not just sex, I had read on. The first chapter had surprised me. I had expected a few insights into the female mind, but instead it had been very critical of men. It had listed male characteristics that made a relationship with a man very difficult, and I possessed every single one of them.

_1. Independent_

_2. Suspicious_

_3. Secretive_

_4. Internalizes emotions_

_5. Overconfident _

_The last characteristic needs some explaining. Many men will do something and are unwilling to second guess themselves afterwards. Confidence might be very helpful in your job, but in a relationship it sure as hell isn't doing you any favours. You need to be willing to examine your actions and maybe come to the conclusion that you only thought about your side of things and therefore hurt your partner. That doesn't mean that you need to start convincing her or explaining your side of the story. IT MEANS YOU WILL NEED TO APOLOGIZE! _

I was glad that my computer beeped at this point to let me know that I had received a new email. My confidence about ever building a successful relationship with my Babe had almost shrunk to zero. I checked out the information and it was really good. The informant had listed a few names of people related to my FTA, and I decided to run them through a few search machines while I read on. I hoped that I would somewhere in the book find a bit of positive information about my chances for a relationship.

After this, it gets a bit blurry. I remember getting a few search results and printing them and reading some more about how to overcome the five mentioned characteristics and still build a successful relationship. That the behaviour related to those characteristics was usually related to fear, jealousy or inexperience… I had immediately thought that my work made me behave like that, but the author clearly pointed out that I was not dealing with an employee in a work situation here, but with another person that I loved and wanted to build a relationship with.

I remember thinking about that. I know I'm a jealous man, I do NOT share and will make it known that nobody touches my woman without repercussions. But when I was with Steph, I still behaved like that. I protected her fiercely, even against her wishes or without discussing it with her. I helped her, but only to the extend that I felt confident with. Truthfully, I still treated her like an employee…

I felt myself getting desperate (or maybe really tired) and the last thing that I remembered reading was that I shouldn't despair, since the book would enlighten me completely… and then I must have fallen asleep. No wonder I woke up feeling like shit.

The beeping continued and it felt like each beep pierced through my skull. I got up and walked to my bed and hit the off button on my alarm. The red digits telling me it was 5.53 am were hurting my eyes. I automatically put on sweatpants and a t-shirt and began lacing my running shoes while sitting on the edge of the bed. It was dry, and the sun was shining, making me blink against the bright light. I hoped the run would clear my head, loosen my stiff muscles and most of all: get rid of this killing head ache. I drank a glass of fruit juice before leaving the house and started at an easy pace.

Soon I realised I forgot my sunglasses because I was squinting against the light. Damn. Then, about halfway I noticed a very dark cloud had replaced the bright sunlight and just as I was thinking I might be lucky and get back to the house before the rain, I felt a few drops. Right, I should have known today was going to be one of those days. Then a flash of light was followed by a loud thunder and a downpour began. Great. A thunderstorm, right above me. This meant I couldn't run my usual run because it took me across an open field and with my luck today I would probably get struck by lightning. Now I had to run a mile extra to avoid the open space. I felt water running down my neck, soaking my t-shirt and I shivered. Suddenly my stomach felt queasy and the next thing I knew I was throwing up the fruit juice. All I needed now was a dog to bite me and spraining an ankle and this day would be complete.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

**Chapter 22: Past, present, future**

I hadn't expected Stephanie to call so soon, but I sure was glad that she did. She thanked me for the book, told me she had been reading in it and had found it very interesting. I told her I was glad that she liked the book, and that I hoped it would clear a few things up for her.

"Well, about that…" Stephanie said, leaving the words hanging in the air.

"About what?" I asked, very curious about what she wanted to know exactly.

"About clearing things up for me…" She still sounded hesitant.

"Yes?" I hoped she would find the nerve to ask me the questions she obviously wanted to ask. It was clear to me now that Ricardo wasn't having a clue about how to handle this, so all my hopes were on Stephanie.

"The book talks a lot about the fear of commitment. That many men have this fear because of their youth."

"Yes?" I had a vague idea about where this was going.

"Well, I always thought that… I mean, Ranger never said anything about… Uhm… I just… well… I had the impression that your parents actually had a really… _good_ relationship…" Ah, now I understood. She had been thinking that Ricardo exhibited all the classic signs of commitment fear, but she wondered how he had gotten it because our parents were so happy together. Time for a serious talk. But I didn't want to do it on the phone. And I wanted to think about how much to tell her. I love Ricardo to bits, (did you really think I would go through all this trouble just because it gives me a buzz?? Okay, well maybe I like the buzz too, but don't forget I put my LIFE on the line here. This is Ricardo we're talking about!) and my gut instinct told me that I could trust Stephanie. But a lot of the information that I wanted to tell her was extremely private. It reminded everybody in the family of a time they really wanted to forget. So first I wanted to discuss this with my parents and brothers and sisters.

"I see what you mean," I said, quickly thinking about my options.

"Listen Stephanie, can you meet me for lunch? There's a small diner across from the hospital where I work. They have great food and we will be able to talk a bit more."

"Okay. I'll see you there."

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After we sat down and ordered coffee and a burger, Stephanie looked at me expectantly.

"There is a lot that people don't know about our family and Ricardo. I can't tell you about that now. But I think it is okay if you hear about some of it if you and Ricardo get together." I waited for Stephanie's response before continuing. She was clearly thinking about my words and then slowly nodded her head.

"Uhuh…" I could hear the curiosity in her voice, which I could completely understand. Ricardo is a man of mystery, people just KNOW that there is _something_ in his past that made him behave like this. And here I am, pushing Stephanie to make a move on Ric and then I tell her there IS something in his past, and that I _know_ about it, but that I am not telling her… yet anyway. Seriously, I would be bursting!

"Before I can tell you I need to talk to a few people. And I would like to ask you a favour…" Stephanie was looking eagerly at me, willing to do a lot to discover _something_ about Ricardo. I was taking a big gamble here, but I had to.

"What kind of favour?" she asked, while taking a sip of her coffee.

"I would like you to read the whole book before we talk about Ricardo's past." I held my breath, waiting for her response.

"Why?" Stephanie sounded a bit suspicious and she looked like she was thinking about getting angry.

"I think it is a great book… uhm… very helpful… especially when you… uh… deal with guys like… uhm… Ricardo…" I hoped she wasn't offended. I was sort of implying that she wasn't able to deal with Ricardo now.

"Why…?" She sounded a bit more suspicious and her posture showed definite signs of anger now. Uhoh…

"Stephanie, please don't be offended. It's just that I have the impression that you're an… eh… impulsive woman. I like that, it is refreshing and I think it is one of the things that Ricardo finds very attractive in you." I quickly looked at her, and was relieved to see that she seemed to have made the decision to wait until after my explanation to get angry. So I carried on.

"What I mean is that Ricardo is very uhm… un-impulsive. And has some… GREAT (rolling my eyes here) difficulty with showing his emotions. When I'm going to tell you about his past, and explain to you why he is so afraid of commitment and emotions, I think it will help you to have read the book… you know,… to understand him." I looked at Stephanie, hoping she could see the seriousness in my eyes. After a while she slowly nodded.

"You see, I'm afraid that… it would be possible that Ric would… Well… Ricardo will NOT like it that we tell you these things…"

"We?"

"Before I tell you I will talk with my parents and family, ask them if they think it is okay too. Probably a few will be there when I tell you…," I explained to Stephanie. I could see realisation dawn in her eyes. Stephanie was beginning to understand how serious this information might be.

"Oh… I see."

"Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I'm not sure how Ric will respond when he finds out. And I think that the book will give you some information that will help you deal with him when he finds out. Understand him better…" Stephanie slowly nodded, thinking over the information that I had given her so far.

"I wouldn't want you guys to split up before it really started, because of an impulsive action or comment that might be misunderstood…" I said softly. Stephanie's eyes widened in shock.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Stephanie, underneath Ricardo's scary mask is a very vulnerable man. He hates that, and so far his response to that fact has been to distance himself from anybody who might be able to make him feel vulnerable. Giving you information about his past would put you in that category. Now, I think that in your case he will, …in the end…, see that it will help… is even necessary for the relationship between you two. But if you say the wrong thing at the moment he finds out, he might do something emotional…, impulsive… and definite… to make sure you keep your distance in the future. It's his second nature. He does love you, I'm sure of that. But like the book said: he is scared shitless and will rather behave like a pig and scare you off than face his fears. It will take time for him to overcome that. That's why I'm asking you to read the book before we continue this conversation."

The waitress arrived at that moment at our table with the burgers, giving Stephanie time to absorb the information that I'd given her and think about it. After the waitress left, she was quiet for a few minutes, munching on her burger, clearly lost in thought. I could see several emotions on her face: doubt, curiosity, fear and love. Suddenly she looked up.

"Okay, I'll read the book before we continue this conversation."

**Chapter 23: Life sucks!**

I kicked the front door shut behind me and limped to the bathroom, leaving a trail of water on the floor behind me. I knew I shouldn't have thought about dogs and ankles! Instead I should've kept my eyes on the road, so I would've seen that hole instead of running right into it,… and falling flat on my face. I was now covered in mud, had a bruise on my knee and arm and indeed… a sprained ankle. Fabulous. I was soaking wet, cold and the headache had only increased.

I opened the taps and peeled my cold, wet and dirty clothes off and stepped in the shower.

WHAT THE HELL?! The water was freezing! It should've been hot by now. I started to close the cold water tap, but nothing happened. The water from the hot tap remained cold. I couldn't believe this! My boiler was only a few years old and should never run out of hot water, but what do you call this? I screamed in frustration, but that didn't change anything, the water remained cold. I thought about my options, and realised that if I wanted a shower, it had to a cold one. And since I was covered in a mixture of mud, sweat and rain, I really should take that shower. Needless to say, I took a really short one…

I turned the heating on high while driving to work, since I was still shivering. Do I need to tell you about me feeling sick to my stomach since I forgot to buy a new packet of granola yesterday and that the yoghurt had turned green because I had forgotten I opened it 6 days ago as I found out this morning when I took a sip straight from the carton, which I then spit all over my kitchen because of the taste and had to consequently clean up? Didn't think so… But it will explain to you why I'm currently not very hungry, still tasting the awful taste… I normally never throw up, but these past few weeks... First I throw up in my parents place, and now twice this morning.

And do I need to explain to you that I came dangerously close to my breaking point when my Turbo got damaged because some IDIOT couldn't tie down the pieces of scrap metal he was transporting, so one fell off when he had to brake for another car, right on the hood of my baby, bouncing twice while leaving dents and then sliding down the side, making scratch marks all the way down? No, didn't think so either.

Right now I was sitting in my Turbo in the parking garage, trying to calm down and find the courage to go up to the office. My knee, ankle and arm were throbbing by now and all I wanted was to go straight to the seventh floor, have a hot shower, some breakfast and climb into the freshly made bed, not to wake up until tomorrow. But duty was calling… literally, because my phone rang, the sound hurting my ears and making me cringe.

"Yo."

"Yo, Ranger. You coming up?" Tank. And I could hear he was laughing.

"Fuck off," I said and hung up. I slowly got out and limped over to the front of the car, to survey the damage from the scrap metal piece that bounced off. The driver hadn't even noticed it, so he didn't stop. But I had his license plate, so he'd be hearing from me soon. Unfortunately, that knowledge did nothing to lessen my anger right now. The damage was serious and I would probably have to leave the car at Al's for a few days at least. Damn it!

I slowly made my way to the elevator and pushed the button for the 5th floor. The elevator started to move up, then made some squeaky noises and shuddered before stopping completely. What the hell? You've GOT to be FUCKING kidding me! I started to push buttons randomly, pointed my key fob at it, but the only result I got was the lights going off, so the elevator was now pitch black. I kicked the side panel, momentarily forgetting that I had sprained that ankle and injured that knee, so next I was hopping again, cursing some more when my phone rang. I didn't even need to check caller id to know that it was Tank.

"Don't… say… a… word" I warned him.

"You okay, man?" I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was still snickering.

"Just get me out of here."

"I'll see what I can do." And Tank hung up.

Nothing had happened for about 5 minutes, and I was about to call Tank again, when my phone rang. No need to tell you that I'm low on patience this morning, which explained my harsh words.

"What's taking you so long?"

"Elevator company said it might take them a while before they can get to you. They're busy." Of course, I would probably be stuck here all day. If I didn't die in some freak elevator accident where all the cables break and emergency brakes mysteriously refuse before they arrive, that is… I threw my arm up in frustration and hit it on something since I couldn't see shit in the dark space and my restrain broke for a moment.

"I don't give a fuck about them being busy! GET ME OUT… NOW!" I yelled, which is something I rarely do and actually never at Tank. I value my life too much.

"And how're we supposed to do that, Ranger? You know that that elevator is secure." Tank's voice was sounding cool, infuriating me even more.

"You're a smart guy, you'll think of something," I said, rather sarcastically.

"I think I'll just let you cool off for a while," Tank said calmly and hung up.

**Chapter 24**

**I'm very proud to tell you that this chapter is co-written with Vera Steine, the queen of mean! You go, girl!**

I can't fucking believe this! Here I am, stuck in my own damn, dark elevator and Tank has the guts to hang up on me. He's so gonna pay when I get out! Next time I see him, I'm gonna… Hang on… see him… SEE him! The camera! That bastard is watching me! I looked up at the camera in the corner and yelled.

"Tank, you're so dead, man!" I realised belatedly that they were probably having a good laugh at my expense up in the control room right now. I know I would, if Tank was in my position. Damn this piece of shit equipment! I gave it a good kick with my uninjured left leg, congratulating myself that I hadn't forgotten about my injured right ankle and knee. That lasted right about one second, until I felt the sharp pain in my toe, which had me hopping. Damnit! I angrily glanced up at the camera, thinking I'm giving them another good laugh today. Well, I'd make sure it is the last one, believe me!

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Finally! Tank just called me that the mechanic from the elevator company has arrived at last. It took them 40 fucking minutes just to arrive! I can hear them on the other side of the door, but no improvement yet. After another 5 agonizing minutes, the doors started groaning and slowly opened a crack. An unfamiliar face greeted me as I blinked against the bright light that shone in. Damn, my head ache was still as bad as this morning, if not worse. The guy reached for me through the small opening and said, "See if you fit through."

I ignored his hand as I pushed myself sideways through the crack, while the mechanic held the doors open. When I was almost completely out, I turned to Tank to tell him what I thought his little stunt earlier, when I felt the elevator doors slam shut... WITH MY ARM STILL BETWEEN 'EM! Is there ANYTHING that won't go wrong today? Tank quickly pushed the doors open, allowing me to pull my bruised arm free while the mechanic looked on sheepishly. He shrugged, "Sorry."

I glared at him, but walked away before I gave in to the temptation to kick his sorry ass. I could hear Tank following me, and without looking at him I said, "Wipe that smirk of your face." There was a brief pause in his step, then Tank resumed walking and said casually, "Having a bad day, Rangeman?"

"You don't wanna know," I replied, and walked into the control room, where everyone hastily returned to their duties.

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Fucking hell! It's a good thing I scrambled the cameras on the shooting range, 'cos Tank would be laughing his ass off if he saw me. I can't even hit a stationary target anymore. I was trying to vent my frustration here, since I had already given up on getting rid off the headache or the stiff neck or anything else that's wrong with me today. But I should have realized, nothing is going to go right today. I decided on one last clip.

I slid it into the gun, pressed the slide catch, adjusted my stance and made a conscious effort to relax my shoulders. I took steady aim and pressed the trigger again. To my satisfaction, a small hole appeared in the target, dead centre. Little did I know that this would be the last thing today to go right.

As I aimed to fire the second round, someone bumped my shoulder. Reflexively, my finger pulled the trigger while my body was propelled forward. The gun performed flawlessly, ejecting the spent casing on the side, hitting me square in the right eye. As I started to swear at the stinging pain, a voice said disinterestedly, "Hey, man, they said I needed to talk to you? I finished fixing your elevator, I need you to sign the bill…"

He trailed off as I turned to glare at him. He stupidly held out a clipboard and pen to me, and I grabbed it, scribbling a signature. The guy scrambled away quickly, while I was left with yet another injury. I gingerly felt around my eye and realised that it would probably turn a lovely shade of black if I didn't put some ice on it soon. Since the target practise wasn't going anywhere anyway, I decided to go up to the 5th floor again and look for some ice in the freezer in the kitchen.

I was rummaging around the freezer looking for some ice, which I of course couldn't find, when I saw from the corner of my eye that Vince and Hal were standing together at the copier, apparently doing nothing. I don't pay them this kind of salary to stand around doing nothing, so I walked up to them and said, "What's going on? Since when does it take two guys in this company to press the button on the copy machine?" Hal looked at me in apparent confusion, his glance straying involuntarily to my right eye. Great, it was already starting to show. Vince looked straight at me and said, "The damn thing is bust."

"Bust?' I replied, "What do you mean, bust?"

"Well," Vince said in a slightly long suffering voice, "It doesn't work." I glared at him.

"The toner cartridge is stuck," Vince quickly elaborated.

"Yeah, so? Do I have to do everything around here myself?" I crouched down and looked inside the copy machine. I could see the long black cartridge had been put in upside down, no doubt Hal's brilliant work, so I reached out to correct it. It was wedged in tight, and so I pulled myself further into the machine to get a good grip on it. I yanked on it hard, but it still wouldn't give. Finally, I braced myself and pulled. Something snapped, the cartridge came loose and I banged my head against the inside of the copier. As I opened my mouth to swear, something warm squirted out of the cartridge and splashed all over me. I swore under my breath in Spanish, crawled out of the copier and dumped the cartridge into Hal's surprised hands.

"There," I said, "At least SOME of us around here know what they're doing." I turned and retreated with the last of my dignity, hoping to God that this ink would come off me.

_Stephanie POV_

I switched off my phone and settled myself on the couch with the book. I didn't want to get disturbed, since I wanted to finish this book as soon as I could. Aurelia had made me really curious about Ranger's past, and since I was only going to hear about it if I read the book, I was reading that book! And if I learned a few tricks along the way on how to deal with Ranger, well, that was just a very nice bonus then. The second chapter talked about what kind of incidents might provoke 'pig' behaviour in a man.

_When a man gets the idea that a woman wants to depend on him when he is just having a good time, he will back off. Especially young men often do not have that clear wish to 'settle down,' or have children. It simply isn't something that they often think about in that age, or they are thinking it will tie them down in a negative way. When a man avoids the topic of marriage/children it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't value the relationship in the same way as you do, but it will mean that they aren't thinking about that yet, and most likely therefore aren't ready for it. If you push the subject, you will most likely end up with a fight or even a break up. I'm not telling you to lie about your wish for things like children or marriage, but accept it if your partner isn't ready for it yet. Give him some time to get used to the idea. Drop a few hints, then leave the subject alone for a while, giving him time to think it over and then… who knows. He might surprise you one day! _

_Also, some men might in the end never want the wedding, marriage and 2 kids thing. Once again, doesn't mean he doesn't value the relationship! But you can't get angry about that! Just like you have the right to want those things, he has the right to not want them. If this is the case, you need to make a decision for yourself. If you REALLY want kids, for instance, and he REALLY doesn't, you are left with two options. Either you accept his wish, or you have to break up. You can't argue about something that is so fundamentally based upon emotions and feelings. It isn't wrong to (not) want children. Talk about why you (don't) want children, and respect each other's position. If it something that you can't overcome together, you can't blame each other for that, but it does mean you will have to make a decision about it. _

I thought about this, and realised that Ranger did the same thing. Every time we got closer, like after we slept together as part of the De Cooch deal or during the kidnapping of his daughter, and I would push him on the subject of commitment in the form of marriage, he would back off. Why, really? There was no doubt in my mind that Ranger would be loyal to me. He had made it clear already that once he got involved with me, it would be serious. And he had never lied about what would and wouldn't be possible when I would want to get involved with him. His work was important and took up a lot of his time. Despite that, he had always been there for me when I needed him. I realised that he was actually the first man in my life that never lied to me when it came to this subject. Dickie had lied all the time, and Morelli had sometimes been sparse with the truth if that was convenient. Ranger had always been honest, almost blunt.

When I had all this knowledge already about Ranger, was it really that important to me to get a ring? Wouldn't that ring than only be for my mother? My family? The Burg?

I got up to get myself something to drink before I started on chapter 3.

**Chapter 25**

_Huge thanks again to Vera Steine for coming up with some of the little disasters that make Ranger's day the day from hell! _

I looked at my hands. They still had large, dark grey smudges on them from the ink that came out of the cartridge. I had been scrubbing like hell, but it hadn't made much of a difference. I was standing in the men's room, leaning on the counter with my face down, taking a few deep breaths before I had to admit yet another defeat today. I looked at myself in the mirror, noting the black circle and swelling underneath my right eye from the bullet casing, when I suddenly spotted a black spot on my face right beneath my left eye. It had the shape of a tear and when I looked at it in the mirror, I realized it was another drop of ink. Right. I grabbed some paper towels and started scrubbing at it, but since the ink had dried completely I had no success whatsoever. Great. I had an important business meeting in 45 minutes and I would have to go there, hands smudged with dark grey ink, limping, with a black eye and bruised arm and a black tear of ink on my face. And looking like that I had to sell a contract…

Suddenly my phone buzzed and I was so eager for the distraction that I forgot to check caller ID…

"Yo."

"Ricardo, what a way to answer a phone." Aurelia… And she was laughing.

"Aurelia, what do you want?" I had no patience left.

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"Have you read the book yet?"

"What?!" Did she really think I would so much as hint at that book towards her ever again? Yeah, I was reading it, but no, NOBODY would have to know about the fact that Ricardo Carlos Manoso had resorted to self-help books because he was desperate for a relationship with the Bombshell bounty hunter.

"It's a good book, isn't it?" Aurelia was fearless, I should've known it.

"I don't have time for this." I was about to hang up when I heard Aurelia scream.

"No, wait!"

"What?" I growled.

"I was just calling to ask you if you already asked Stephanie to accompany you to the family reunion." Fuck, the family reunion. Damn it, I had completely forgotten about it. And of course my darling sister has to remind me of the reunion today, of all days.

"I don't know if I have the time to go this year." It was my standard answer, and so would be Aurelia's reply.

"Ricardo! You know mother wants you to be there. You can't just stay away…" She trailed off, letting the guilt speak for itself. She was good with the guilt, and she was merciless in using it.

"Look, I don't know yet. I have to go now." This time I really did hang up, too afraid of what she might ask next. I hadn't asked Stephanie because I had no idea how she felt about me right now. Things hadn't exactly been smooth between us since she slept here during the time she had the flu. And I would only bring her if we were together, because everybody else would assume that anyway and she and I would be bombarded with questions. I sighed and allowed my mind to drift for a moment. It would be nice to show up with Stephanie by my side, dressed in one of her pretty outfits… All the men in the family will be jealous when they see her, her beautiful curls long and shiny, her body sensual and gracious, her face…

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

What NOW?! I have ONE good thought today, and I have that interrupted by my phone. I grabbed my phone again and looked at the display. Oh yeah, that's right. I had programmed a reminder for the time I had to leave to go to meeting with the prospective client. I silenced my phone and splashed some water on my face. My head ache hadn't subsided at all, and I could really do with some coffee, but if I didn't leave now I'd be late and that usually doesn't help the business side of things.

I walked back to the control room to let Tank know that I was leaving, when the man himself opened the door and walked out, …with a big cup of coffee in his hands. Ah, now we're talking.

"I'm leaving. I will be back around 2, maybe 2.30." Tank slowly nodded, his eyes studying my face and probably wondering if he should offer to go in my place.

"And let me take that off your hands," I said as I grabbed his coffee and immediately walked through the door into the stairwell to prevent Tank from coming after me. I ran down the stairs, into the garage and unlocked the Bronco since I couldn't show up in my scratched and dented Porsche. I jumped in the car and took a large sip of the coffee… which I immediately spit out again in a reflex, spraying it all over the car. Not only was the coffee scalding hot, it also contained about a kilo of sugar and a liter of creamer.

"Fuck!" I couldn't help the word coming out of my mouth while I let my head sag against the steering wheel for a moment. The only good thing was that I was wearing a black shirt, so you didn't see any of the coffee stains. I couldn't find any tissues to blot up the drops all around the car and I soon gave up. I quickly put the coffee in the cup holder and started the car.

While I sped out of the garage I realized that Tank probably had been watching the security camera to see my face when I took a sip of his coffee and was probably laughing his ass off… again.

_Stephanie POV_

I sipped my cup of coffee while starting on the next chapter. Let's see, this chapter was about the, sometimes very close, relationship between son and mother. Hhhmm, I didn't think that there were any problems like that between Ranger and his mother. His parents loved him, that much had been obvious during my short visit, but I didn't have the impression that his mother had problems letting him go. So I skipped that chapter and went on to the next. "What to do when he is behaving like a pig?"

Now this was something that I wanted to know about. More than once Ranger had left me standing with my mouth hanging open because he had made some smartass remark and then walked away, basically avoiding the issue and making me feel like a fool. Let's see what the writer had to say about that!

_Basically, by behaving like a pig men will try get away from discussing a subject that they don't feel comfortable discussing. Feelings are always a good one, or something that they think might endanger their independence or freedom. Financial subjects are usually a good bet as well. By saying something hurtful or harsh, they will most likely have a fight on their hands, but the real subject will not be resolved. Because let's face it, ladies, when you ask him when he's free to discuss a loan at the bank and he says something insulting like 'You're a woman, you don't need to think about the financial side of things', you will most likely respond with something like 'And what's that suppose to mean?' and then you guys will fight about whether or not you are able to understand the finances, in stead of the bank appointment. So how to deal with this? _

_The first step is also the most important one: realize it is happening! Be aware of this kind of behavior and don't let it get to you. Stay calm and keep your goal or subject in mind. Don't accept any flippant answers, simply ignore them and return to the subject at hand. Don't allow him to walk away from you, simply follow him (calmly!) and keep asking your questions. Also, describe what you see happening. 'Why are you so unwilling to discuss this subject?', 'Why are you getting angry?' or 'This is important to me, I would really like to discuss this with you. If you're too busy now, when would be a good time?'. Don't allow him to get away with easy answers like 'I'll look at it later' (ask him when!) or 'I don't think it is important' (you do think so, and that is reason enough). _

_Secondly, try to find out why he is so unwilling to discuss the subject with you. Maybe he really doesn't care. That is not necessarily a bad thing, just tell him what you've decided then and let it be. You never will have exactly the same interests. Maybe he has something else on his mind and you simply caught him at the wrong moment. Ask him when would be a good time and then let it rest until that agreed time. However, more often then not it is related to other things. Either he doesn't want you to gain knowledge about something because it will make him feel less 'manly' or he doesn't have a clue about the subject and he doesn't want you to know that. Basically: his position and ego are at stake. Back to the example of discussing a loan at the bank, he might feel he should be the one discussing this on his own with the bank manager, because as a man he will take care of the financial side of things or he realizes that he has no idea about the possibilities for a loan right now and he doesn't want you to think he isn't able to discuss this or provide for the family financially. He doesn't want to look helpless or stupid. _

_Now there are a few options. If you are happy with him taking care of, for example, the finances, than you can tell him that and leave it at that. If you don't agree with it, you will have to tell him that as well. Be prepared to discuss the underlying consequences. If he doesn't want you as an equal partner for certain topics, you need to know that and think about whether or not that is acceptable to you. You need to make sure that you both at the end of the day know what is expected of the other. If you both agree that he is solely responsible for the finances, you both need to know what that means. Can he take out a loan without consulting you? Can he invest in the stock market without discussing the risks with you? Can he use your salary as well, or do you want to keep that separate? Talk about this!_

_Last but not least there is one MAJOR point left. Do NOT allow him to be disrespectful towards you! If he feels that he should be responsible for something, that is fine. But that shouldn't imply that you couldn't do it. Do not allow yourself to be shoved aside. Make sure it is your choice to step aside in certain areas, just as you might ask him to step aside and take your lead in other areas. _

Luckily Ranger had always supported me. Although, he had on occasion moved me aside but that usually was with good reason. It usually involved me ignoring some advice and stumbling into something and Ranger rescuing me and asking me again and me ignoring it… again and well… Although, Ranger wasn't good with the 'asking' part. He usually instructed people, me included. Something to keep in mind, because if he thought he could 'instruct' me in a relationship, he had another thing coming!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 26: When it rains, it poors**

_Thanks again to Vera Steine for suggesting some 'improvements' to Ranger's day! J_

I hit the brakes with all my strength and leaned on my horn, praying that I wouldn't hit the car in front of me while my tires screeched and I felt the car sliding. I was ready for the blow, but luckily the Bronco stopped exactly 1 inch from the rear fender of the Jaguar in front of me. To my surprise the woman in the fancy car in front of me just flipped me off while I could read the word 'Pig' clearly on her lips. What the hell?! In response I flashed all the lights on the truck, including the big ones on the roof, but since it wasn't dark it didn't have much effect. And she had already put her foot down on the gas pedal and zoomed off. Bitch. She had cut right in front of me on an intersection without looking left or right and my reflexes had prevented a nasty accident, and now I was a pig?

I closed my eyes for a second to get both my anger and breathing under control when the car behind me honked. I checked my mirror and saw somebody making wild gestures at me, probably wanting me to drive on. For a moment I thought about getting out and asking what this guys problem was, but decided against it. I had a meeting to get to, and with my luck today I would probably get arrested and lord knows what else would happen. I just put my foot to the pedal and drove off, hoping that I would survive this day without getting killed… or killing anybody myself out of frustration or anger. I missed my Babe, especially today…

XXX

I parked and went in while glancing at my watch. Good timing, I was 5 minutes early. The lady in reception took her time checking me out, but finally she walked me to the office of Peter Moore, the prospective client. Peter was sitting behind his desk reading some papers, but got up the moment he saw me.

"Carlos, good to see you again! What happened to you?" he asked, while he rushed his big body from behind the desk with surprising speed for a 350 pound man.

"Peter." I didn't feel like explaining my day to Peter, so I left it at that. We shook hands and Peter gestured to the corner of his office where he had a few comfortable chairs and low table.

"Oh, Suzy, could you get us some coffee? Black for you, right?" Peter said, while looking at me. I just nodded. This day required something stronger than tea.

"And could you bring me some lunch, please? I'm starving." I was starving too, but I didn't want to ask for lunch. I had no idea what Peter ate, and considering his weight it probably wasn't something that was on my menu.

"Have you had lunch yet, Mr. Manoso?" Suzy was looking at me expectantly.

"I'm fine, thank you" I said, but Peter had other ideas.

"Of course Carlos will join me, Suzy," he said, while jovially slapping my arm. Of course he slapped the one that got stuck between the elevator doors this morning. I gritted my teeth and managed something of a smile in the direction of Suzy. She nodded and closed the door behind her.

Business went okay. Peter drove a hard bargain, but in the end we agreed on a nice price. Thing is: they know I'm good and they know I have a waiting list. If they don't want to pay my price, that's fine with me, I have enough people waiting. And most of them don't want to wait any longer. Makes negotiations a whole lot easier for me. But lunch was another disaster. Turns out Peter eats the same kind of lunch my Babe likes. Fastfood. Lots of it. Not one leaf of lettuce or piece of tomato in sight. Suzy put down a tray with a cheeseburger and basket of fries in front of me and a large cola. Shit. The burger was dripping fat, the fries were covered in ketchup and mayonnaise and the cola wasn't diet, but regular. I took a bite from the burger and slowly chewed. It tasted awful. Somehow I suspected that this wasn't fresh. More like reheated in a microwave or something. The bread was soggy, the fries were soft in stead of crispy and to say it was lukewarm was pushing it. Peter seemed to think it was just fine, and I didn't want to spoil his lunch so I said nothing, slowly taking another bite from the burger.

Splat.

As soon as I heard the sound I knew what had happened. I slowly put the burger down, keeping my blank face firmly in place and looked at my pants. A great glob of sauce was laying on my left charcoal grey pant leg. I wiped the sauce off with a napkin, but the grease stain still remained clearly visible. Great, I really hoped that the grease would come out. I paid a fortune for this suit.

I was still thinking of ways to explain to Peter why I wasn't eating my lunch when my phone buzzed. I checked the read out and saw it was a message from the control room. To contact them a.s.a.p. That usually meant something had gone wrong. I excused myself and called them. Turns out Hal is in deep shit. He went after an FTA that shouldn't have been a problem, but the FTA had somehow managed to close the door on Hal and had proceeded to shoot at Hal's car. The car didn't work anymore and Hal didn't know what to do. The neighborhood wasn't exactly a friendly one and I was closest to his position, so if I could please go and rescue him. Fine. I really had to everything myself in this company! I told Peter that I had an emergency and had to go. Peter said it was okay, the contracts had been signed anyway and I suspected he was after my leftover lunch. Well, he was welcome to it.

I drove as fast as I could. Situations like this can turn nasty in minutes. When the neighborhood realizes that Hal is defenseless and has no means of getting away, they can easily kill him. I arrived after 6 minutes and saw Hal squatting behind his car, weapon ready, looking at the house where the FTA was inside. I quickly shrugged into a bulletproof vest and boots and secured my utility belt before exiting the car and running to Hal. As soon as I was visible from the house, a gunshot sounded and while I dove for cover behind Hal's car, I heard the telltale 'bing' sound that signaled yet another hole in Hal's company car.

"Report," I barked.

"FTA is inside with a shotgun, he shoots at everything that moves." No shit. I just gave Hal a look and thought about how to solve this. We would have to distract this guy somehow while we get inside and surprise him. Bulletproof vests usually don't protect you much against close range gunshots, so it had to be a surprise attack. I called Tank, and he told me he was just 2 blocks away. When he had arrived, we decided that Tank would stay where he was, distracting the guy, while Hal and me would go in and surprise this guy.

The surprise part worked out and Hal and I managed to grab him before he could point the gun at us, but the guy put up a hell of a fight and soon we were rolling around the floor. Then a lot of things happened.

I heard Tanks' footsteps on the stairs. Hal screamed something to me just when Tank entered the room and the FTA whirled around furiously to see who the new attacker was. Just as I realized that Hal was holding his can of pepper spray, my eyes suddenly were burning and stinging and I screamed in pain and surprise. I couldn't see anything anymore, I lost my grip on the FTA and felt him kick my hip hard while yelling 'swine' at me and I heard Hal shout 'fuck'. While I blindly tried to move away from my attacker, flaying my arms around and hitting a wall, it was suddenly quiet except for the labored breathing of Hal, Tank and me. I still couldn't see a thing, so I had no idea what just happened until I heard Tanks voice.

"He's down, Ranger. I stunned him." I heard cuffs click into place and somebody was dragging the FTA out of the room. That better be Hal leaving the room with the FTA, because the next time I saw him he was gonna pay. I was furious! How stupid do you have to be to want to use pepper spray when your partner is directly in the line of fire? All the FTA had to do, and did, was to move his head and you spray your partner!

A bit of blurry vision returned, but I still couldn't see a lot because my eyes were tearing so much. I could feel tears running down my cheeks and I wiped my nose on my sleeve, realizing too late that I was wearing an expensive button down shirt that went with my suit and not my usual long-sleeved t-shirt.

"I need to wash out my eyes," I croaked and Tank grabbed my arm and led me to another room. I heard water running and he guided my hands so I knew where it was. I poured water on my face until the burning subsided a little bit and I had some vision again. The tearing still continued, but wasn't as bad anymore. I closed the tap, blew my nose and slowly leaned back against the wall. Tank was watching me observantly.

"You okay?" Tank asked.

"I'm good" I croaked, blowing my nose once more and wiping some new tears away.

"Cal, Lester and Rob are here. I sent Rob to go with Hal to the police station. Al's on his way to pick up Hal's truck." I just nodded, thinking that Tank probably sent Hal away so I wouldn't kill him straight away. At least one of my men still used his brains.

"Let's go back to the office. Lester and Cal will secure the truck until Al arrives and Lester can drive my truck back to Rangeman," Tank said. I just nodded and walked downstairs. We secured the house and I walked straight to my car. I felt no need to talk to anybody right now. Tank got behind the wheel and drove off while I blew my nose and wiped my eyes yet again.

_Stephanie POV_

I fixed myself some lunch and went straight back to the book. I found it really fascinating to read these things. I recognized a few things and felt like I understood Ranger a bit better now. Still, a few more chapters to go before I could call Aurelia and ask about Rangers' past.

The next chapter was about 'prevention' as the author put it. Certain behavior from the woman could trigger 'pig' behavior. If you knew which behavior that was, you could act differently yourself and prevent your boyfriend from turning into a pig.

_If he is a slob, and always has been a slob and he has no problem with that, what do you think are the odds of you turning him into a neat freak? Not very high, I can tell you. Nagging at him will not do you any favors, it will only turn him into a pig. Doesn't mean you have to accept everything, but pick your battles and your time to battle. Because let me tell you, ladies. Nagging is something every man HATES. It is, excuse the expression, a very female thing. Men usually tell you straight what the problem is, solve it (or try to) and then consider the subject closed. So if you've told your boyfriend that you want him to clean up after himself, and he has explained to you that he is a slob, that means to him that subject is closed and that he doesn't see any need to change. I'm not saying that this is right or wrong, but if you tell him to clean up after himself every day, or even 3 times a week, when he already told you he's a slob, he will be wondering what you are going on about. To him, this subject has been discussed and closed. _

_So therefore, when there is something that is bothering you on a regular occasion, first of all realize why this is bothering you. Is it maybe because you aren't used to it like that, and find it hard to adapt to a new situation? Ask yourself if it is fair that you expect him to change his ways so you are completely happy, regardless of his routine? He has to adapt to you just as much as you have to him. Try to find a compromise that is acceptable to both of you and then LEAVE IT ALONE! You can't first agree to e.g. him taking the trash out on Sunday night and then ask him on Friday if he can't do it right now because you think it looks messy. _

_One other thing: nobody's perfect! Especially after the first lovely 'I'm so in love, he's perfect' months of dating, you no doubt will find some characteristics that are not perfect about him. Maybe he's a slob, maybe he can be impatient, maybe he spends a lot of time on a hobby and maybe he has friends that you don't like. Realize that maybe he feels the same way about you. Doesn't mean you can't love each other to bits and live happily ever after and doesn't mean you have to accept everything, but don't make a big deal out of things that aren't that important. Take a step back now and then and think about what really matters. How important is it that he folds his t-shirts if the house burns down? How important is it that he takes the trash out if you get seriously ill? How important is it that mows the lawn every 2 weeks in the summer when his father dies? _

_If you can count on him when it really matters, then allow him his little imperfections. Realize you have your own imperfections and be willing to compromise on those (mainly domestic) topics, and let it go. You'll both be a lot more comfortable that way! _

I sighed. Wow, there was a lot of truth in that. Ranger didn't strike me as the type who wanted to waste a lot of time on domestic chores. He had a full time housekeeper who cooked, cleaned and bought his groceries! I was a big slob, and he had sometimes commented on that. But somehow I didn't get the impression it was a big thing for him. He accepted me for who I was, and I could always count on him when things got rough. So maybe I should simply accept his choice of food…

But only if I didn't have to eat it myself! There are limits!

**Chapter 27: When it rains, it poors**

_Thanks to Vera Steine for suggestion parts of Ranger's day. _

When we arrived back at Rangeman I felt ready to call it a day. This day was just unbelievable. I'm sure I would be able to laugh about it some day, but that wasn't happening anytime soon.

"I'm going to take a shower. I'll be down in the control room in 20 minutes," I said to Tank while I got out of the car. Tank just nodded and took the stairs to the 5th floor. I waited on the elevator to take me up to the 7th floor.

When I opened my apartment, I felt some anger and agitation leaving me. The apartment was quiet and clean, just the way I liked it. I walked into the bathroom and started the shower while I undressed myself. Since I had no more business meetings today, I could dress in something slightly more comfortable than a suit after I finished my shower. With a contented sigh I stepped under the warm water. Finally, my first warm shower of the day. I faced the shower and braced my arms against the wall while I closed my eyes and let the warm water cascade down my body. My headache subsided a little and I felt my tense muscles relax. This was what I needed.

After a few minutes I decided that I had been doing nothing for long enough and I grabbed a bottle of shampoo. I opened the bottle and poured a bit of shampoo in my hand and started washing my hair. I like this shampoo… I like the look that Stephanie gets in her eyes when she smells this shampoo…

I had just ducked my head back under the spray to rinse when the sound of something falling on the floor made me instinctively open my eyes and look around. I realized that the sound had been that of the shampoo bottle dropping to the floor, because I had placed it too much on the edge of the small plateau in the cubicle and then the shampoo entered my eyes. Goddamn it! The shampoo stung in my already agitated eyes and I quickly put my head back under the water, desperately trying to rinse the soap out. After a minute I gently wiped my eyes, feeling the tender bruising from the bullet casing earlier today and tried to open them again. They were still tearing, but vision had returned. My eyes felt swollen and irritated, I didn't look too good right now. It was a good thing that I didn't have to go to any more clients today, I would probably scare the hell out of them. I let some more water run down my face and then decided I had sulked long enough. It was time to get on with this day. It could only get better!

At least I hoped so…

_Stephanie POV_

I grabbed a pint of Ben & Jerry's and I padded back to the couch. Only 2 more chapters to go before the book was finished. Next chapter was about 'cultivating the man, ignoring the pig'. Hhmmm, wonder what that was all about.

_In previous chapters we discussed situations that could trigger 'pig' behavior. This is unwanted behavior, so now is the time to focus on how to stimulate more appropriate adult behavior and to ignore the pig for a while. _

_There are a few golden rules when training a dog: reward good behavior, ignore unwanted behavior and punish bad behavior. Men are just like dogs, so the golden rules apply here too. You just have to make sure you know what they like to be rewarded with and when they feel left out and ignored. This approach may take some time, but it has serious plus points:_

- _you will get to know him better because you have know what he likes and dislikes and vice versa_

- _he will focus energy on the right thing because he will want that reward _

- _when done correctly over a longer period of time, it will lead to an open and healthy relationship in which both partners take the other one into account before making any big decisions and are willing to compromise_

_A little piece of advice here: realize that what you might consider 'unwanted behavior' could be the best reward you can give him. An example: maybe you don't like it that he watches baseball all the time. Then you might think: I shouldn't encourage anything related to baseball, because it will only increase this unwanted behavior. WRONG!!! When he loves baseball, it is unlikely you are going to change that. But you might be able to get him to watch less. To pick out certain games instead of watching all the time. And the best reward you could give him would be tickets to go and see a game. Remember, you really have to place yourself in his position! When he realizes that you will let him watch a big game in peace or with friends without a negative comment from you if he has done something that you asked him because it mattered to you, he will become more willing to do so. _

_It is important that he weighs your request about equal with his request: give and take. If he feels that what you want him to do is much more than what he is getting back, he will not be motivated to do it. Let's face it, neither would you! So you could even assign a value to a request and reward. Say it is really important to you that he walks the dog late at night because you feel uncomfortable, you might value it 9 out of 10 on the scale of "wanting that to happen". He might value to ability to watch the World Series with friends also at 9 out of 10. When you ask him to walk the dog every night and you explain to him that this is as important to you as the World Series to him, he will understand you are serious about your request. But maybe he feels that walking the dog every day is "more" than watching the World Series. To him, they aren't equal in importance. Then it is time to bargain, and to find out what he would accept in return for walking the dog every day. Maybe a ticket to a game, maybe a night out with friends once a month, maybe… you name it, be creative! (And it doesn't always have to be sex!) This is not about monetary value! It is about how something makes you feel. It is about understanding each other's wishes and respecting each others wishes. _

_Also, don't sell yourself short. If something is really important to you and he says it could never be THAT important, don't give in! Men are excellent dealmakers, and probably more ruthless than you think. Realize he might be trying to see how much more you are willing to give him before he accepts a compromise. If something is a 10 out of 10 for you, it means it is important. No discussion about it!_

_Last but not least: I'm not saying that everything should be a deal! So don't turn it into a sport. What I am saying is to find out what is important to him and let him know what is important to you and make a healthy compromise. _

This was advice that I could use in all my relationships, not just with men. My mother for instance! And when I was still seeing Morelli, this book could have made a big difference, because we were never willing to compromise, to bargain or to see the importance to the other person. Morelli wanted me save, almost at all costs. And I wanted to be free, almost at all costs. Neither of us ever sat down and talked about it in a calm and rational way. It always ended with ultimatums, arguments and break ups. Including the final break up.

Even though I don't see many shouting matches happening between Ranger and me, I do know that something that is high on his list is to keep me safe. Just like a little bit more openness from his side is high on mine…

Something to remember…

**Chapter 28: It just keeps getting worse**

I sat down on the edge of my bed and slowly leaned my head in my hands while sighing deeply. I felt like shit, there was no other word for it. After the shower I had gotten a pretty good look at myself, and had seen the damage that this one day had done to me. My ankle was blue and stiff, my knee was swollen, there was a big bruise on my hip, my hands were grey with ink, my upper arm was showing the impression of the elevator doors in blue and green, my eye was black and I had a black ink tear under the other one. Both my eyes were red and swollen from the pepper spray, my nose was running and I could only breathe through my mouth. My headache was killing me, every ray of light was hurting my eyes and all my muscles felt stiff from the cold shower this morning and the throwing up after the yoghurt incident. And so far today, I had only one bite of a soggy hamburger to eat and two cups of coffee to drink.

And I hadn't seen or spoken to Stephanie at all.

So before I left my apartment to face no doubt another problem and injury, I grabbed my phone and called her. I just wanted to hear her voice, listing to her activities of the day, hoping she could make me smile at least once.

No such luck, her phone went straight to voicemail. For a second I wanted to leave a message just to get her to call me, but since I had no real reason to call her, other than just wanting to hear her voice and that was not something I would ever say out loud, I hung up. I slowly laid down on the bed, my feet still over the side and closed my eyes for a moment. I had really hoped that she would run into me today, secretly hoping she would take over and take care of me. Like she did that afternoon when I was discharged from the hospital after Scrog shot me. I still remembered that afternoon like it was yesterday.

_She had come in with cake and flowers, and we had chatted for a while, sitting next to each other behind my desk. After an hour or so, she had gathered the dishes and had walked off to the kitchen. I heard her rummaging around while I painfully got up from the chair to find a more comfortable position. My rib was hurting with every breath I took, but for the first time in days I hadn't noticed it. My Babe's presence was the best medicine I could get. However, after sitting behind my desk for two hours, even my Babe couldn't make me forget the pain anymore. I was slowly maneuvering myself around, taking measured breaths when Stephanie suddenly appeared in the doorway with a piece of paper and a few boxes in her hands. _

_"It says here that you are supposed to be in bed," she said, waving the paper. I suddenly realized that I had dropped the instructions from the hospital and the pharmacy bag in the kitchen and had gone straight back to work. I had a ton of emails to answer and a few bullet wounds weren't going to slow me down. _

_"And you should take these painkillers," she continued when I didn't respond. _

_"Don't need them." _

_"Of course you don't. You just grimace for fun with every breath you take." _

_I don't know why things were different today; normally she would never invade my privacy and would never tell me what to do. Usually, I was the one doing those things. But maybe because of everything that happened in the past few days, the balance had shifted. Because she handed me the painkillers and the instructions and then gently put her hands on my sides and turned me around, pushing me into the bedroom. _

_"What are you doing, Babe?" I asked softly, in a sexual tone. _

_"I'm taking care of you because you won't do it." She sounded very decisive, and for the first time in a long time I felt okay with someone taking over control…_

_For a few hours, that is._

_She pulled back the duvet on the bed and patted on the mattress. _

_"Get in." _

_"Babe?" _

_"Come on, lay down. Do what the doctor told you to do." She pushed on my good shoulder to get me to sit down on the edge of the bed and went into the bathroom, coming out of it with a glass of water in her hands. She grabbed the medication and read the instructions. There were three boxes. Painkillers, antibiotics and sleeping pills. The combination of the three would knock me out cold for a few hours, so I hadn't planned on using them. _

_"I don't need the pills," I gritted out, still riding out the wave of pain from sitting down. _

_"Of course you don't," she said on a smile, and took the pills out of the boxes anyway. She held them in front of me and after a moment I reluctantly took them and swallowed them down with water. But I didn't lay down. I wasn't giving in that easily._

_"Let me help you get undressed," she said, and her hands moved to the front of my sweater. I had pulled on my grey sleeveless sweater because it had a zipper, and was one of the few articles of clothing that I could put on myself without being in too much pain. She pulled the zipper down and grasped. I realized that this was the first time that she saw my chest after I was shot and particularly the bruising from the impact of the bullets. She had visited me in the hospital, but I had always worn a t-shirt there, so the large blue and purple bruises on my chest were new for her. The guilt was clearly visible on her face. _

_"I'm okay, Babe. Really." She just nodded, not looking at me._

_"It wasn't your fault," I said a little more forcefully, while lifting her chin to get her to look at me. When her eyes finally met mine, I placed a soft kiss her lips and gave her a small smile. After a moment, she smiled back and nodded.  
"Can you help me take the sling off?" I asked her. _

_"Sorry, Ranger. It says here that you have to keep it on," she said, while waiving the instructions at me. Damn. She gently lifted my feet up on the bed, but I still didn't want to give in completely, so I leaned back on my elbow, to ease the pressure of my ribs and shoulder. I could feel the painkiller and sleeping pills were starting take effect, because a very fuzzy feeling came over me._

_"Come on, lay down. Get some rest," she softly said, and started pushing me down. The movement was painful and I was glad when my head hit the pillow. I closed my eyes and took a few careful breaths, waiting for the pain to subside. I felt her covering me with the duvet and then her hand was going…_

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The harsh beeps made me realize I had fallen asleep, dreaming about that one afternoon that seemed a very distant memory. Oh, for fuck's sake! There weren't many times that I hated my demanding job, but today was one of them.

"What?!" I barked into my phone.

"Ranger, you coming down?" Ram.

"Why?"

"We have a problem."

"What else is new? Why don't you just do something about it?" I snarled. The moment the words left my mouth I regretted my loss of control. I was a professional, I should behave like one.

"I'm coming down," I quickly said and ended the call.

This day WILL end, it has to…

**Chapter 29: Getting closer to the past**

I had grabbed a quick snack and settled down for the last chapter. It was already past four in the afternoon, but I couldn't stop now. Not with being so close to the end and the reward that that would bring me: information about Ranger's past! So for the last time today, I picked up the book and settled in.

The final chapter was about "Do's and Don'ts". Basically the author gave lots of advice on how to deal with men who had a tendency to show pig behavior.

_A lot of pig behavior comes from uncertainty. This is a huge difference between men and women. When women aren't sure about something, they will usually express this doubt, and ask friends for advice. When men aren't sure about something, they usually feel incompetent. But instead of expressing their doubts, they usually get more forceful in their answers, to cover up this uncertainty. The worst thing to do for a woman is to confront him with his uncertainty, even if she is sure that this is the case. Best thing to do is to let him stew for a while. Let him know you trust him, and that you think he has a lot of qualities. Boost his confidence. I know it sounds pathetic, but men just like to know that somebody thinks that they are great. Don't we all?_

I didn't think that Ranger had many doubts about anything. Although… That probably wasn't true. On occasion, especially during very stressed times like when he was FTA or when Julie was kidnapped he had been especially forceful on occasion. And he had said a few things that could indicate some uncertainty. After all, he was human and even though I think he had a higher than average dose of confidence, he probably had some doubts on occasion as well.

_Allow for differences. If he likes to do something in a particular way, why not? Doesn't mean you have to start doing it that way, but why would he have to change his way? Don't wish to do everything together and in a similar way. You have a whole life together ahead of you, you will do so many things together! So don't see it as a bad thing if he wants to go out on his own on occasion. Don't sit at home moping about it, call your friends and have a girls night out! Because in a good relationship there should be enough trust to know that the other party is not cheating on you as soon as you aren't there. (And by the way, if he does: ditch the bastard, you are way too good for him) _

Trust was something that Ranger and I always had had. And I knew that cheating was not his style, he had made that perfectly clear. And I wasn't going to cheat on him either, that much should be clear to him. I suppose we would do things in a slightly different style. He was very thorough, very organized and very professional. I was a slob, very unprofessional and my life was utter chaos. But Ranger still found a way to help me, and I would like to think that I was some help to him as well on occasion.

_Last but not least: enjoy each other. Don't let the bad times get in the way of the good ones. Learn from mistakes and arguments, realize that everybody makes mistakes and argues on occasion in a relationship. That's natural, and it's good, because when resolved it will bring you closer together. Don't be afraid to take a stand, ignore the pig and use the information in this book and you will turn him into a loving man in no time. _

_Go get him, woman!_

With a sigh I closed the book. Yeah, I wanted to get Ranger. So I powered up my phone again, and called Aurelia.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Aurelia?"

"Yes. Stephanie?"

"Yes, how are you?"

"Good, how are you?"

"Good… I finished the book…"

"Wow, that was fast!"

"Um… yeah." What can I say… I'm curious.

"You want to talk about Ricardo's past now, don't you?" I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Yeah…"

"How about we have dinner at my parents place tonight?" Dinner with Ranger's parents while talking about Ranger's past? I wasn't sure.

"Don't worry, Steph. But they want to tell part of the story as well, and they want to get to know you…" Aurelia said softly.

"Um… All right, then…" I suppose…

"Great, see you there in about an hour?" Aurelia asked.

"Yeah, that's okay."

"Bye," Aurelia said, and she hung up.

I looked at my display and saw I had missed one call. Curious, I checked it and gasped when I saw it was from Ranger. He had called about an hour ago, but he didn't leave a message. I contemplated calling him, but I didn't know what to say, so in the end I decided against it. I'm sure he had things under control.

**Chapter 30: The past revealed**

Warning: serious subjects! A part of Ranger's past is revealed…

When I entered the control room, there was a lot of activity. My eyes found Tank and he walked up to me.

"We finally got a lead on John Wilder, but there is a problem," Tank said.

John Wilder was an FTA that we wanted to get badly, and not just for the $500,000 bail. He was linked to a long list of crimes and I wanted him off the street.

"What's the problem?"

"He's at the house of someone we know, but we're not sure with how many others. Reports vary."

"Vary?"

"We heard that he was in there alone and we heard that he was in there with 3 others." Great.

"Who's house is he in?"

"Vincent Gruber's," Tank said softly. Shit. We picked up Gruber about 6 months ago for a murder charge, but we heard after 2 months that for some reason he hadn't been convicted and he had muttered some threats towards Rangeman. We had paid him a visit and the threats had ended, but Gruber was a man with a grudge. And for some reason I didn't think that it was a coincidence that Wilder and Gruber were in the same house. This could get real ugly.

"Anything else?" I asked Tank.

"No."

"Okay, get Lester, Bobby, Ram and Cal and get dressed. Meet me in the conference room in 5." Tank nodded and left. I walked to Hawk and told him to get us all the information about Wilder, Gruber and the house asap and then I walked back up to the apartment to get my gear. Looked like this day was going to finish with a bang.

_Stephanie POV_

I was nervous when I rang the bell. After all, I had only seen Ranger's parents once. I was glad that it was Aurelia who opened the door and gave me a quick hug.

"Hi Steph, good to see you again!"

"Hi Aurelia."

I hung my coat and we walked into the living room where his mother and father were sitting on the couch. They too gave me a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Welcome Stephanie."

"Thank you, Mrs. Manoso"

"Please, it's Juanita and Carlos, dear."

"Okay."

We all sat down and Aurelia walked in with a plate filled with little snacks. They looked delicious and I felt hungry.

"Would you like a drink, Steph?"

"Yes, please."

"What would you like, soda, wine?" Mmm, considering the subject and me being a cheap drunk, I decided to stick with alcohol free beverages tonight. This was one night that I wanted to remember.

"You have cola?"

"Sure." Aurelia left again, and after a few moments she returned with a tray with 4 glasses. Two held wine and two held cola. Rangers' parents got the wine, and Aurelia gave me a coke and took the last glass herself and then sat down as well. She offered me the plate with snacks and I took a particularly attractive looking half egg filled with some tasty mix of curry, cream and herbs. Yum.

We talked about unimportant things for a few minutes, until Aurelia shifted and cleared her throat.

"Let's not keep you waiting any longer, Steph. I know you came here to hear about Ricardo's past." I felt my face turn red and just nodded. What could I say, it was the truth… Both Aurelia and Juanita smiled.

"You have to promise that everything you hear today will stay in this room," Aurelia said seriously.

"I promise," I said and wondered what they could possibly tell me that required such secrecy. On the other hand, they were related to Ranger, so… It was Juanita who started the story.

"The story starts years before my Ricardo was born. I met a man, fell in love and married him. I thought that we would start a family, live happily ever after, but I was wrong… after a while I found out that he…" Juanita's voice waivered, and Carlos grabbed her hand and held it. I just remained silent and waited. This was obviously difficult to tell for her. After a minute, Juanita took a deep breath and continued.

"After a while I found out that he wasn't a very nice man. He worked a lot, so he was away from home often. But when he came home, he was… abusive. He would shout at me for anything and everything and after about a year he started… hitting me." I grasped.

"I'm so sorry," I said. Juanita gave me a small smile.

"Thank you, dear… Well, after a while, more and more people realized what was going on in our house and one day, my neighbors called the police when they heard him shouting at me again and me screaming for help. The police came and arrested him. But I didn't dare to press charges against him, I was too afraid really…" She gave me another watery smile and stared ahead for a moment, obviously reliving the horror of those years. I was really surprised. Ranger's mother came across as a very strong and loving woman. I'd never thought she was the victim of abuse… But then again, maybe she became so strong because she survived it.

"This situation continued for a while, the neighbors calling the police whenever they heard him hit me and me withdrawing charges after a day or so out of fear. It might have continued for quite some time, if I hadn't met Carlos..." She looked at him with a loving smile, which he returned immediately.

"Carlos was the complete opposite of my husband. He was kind, loving and intelligent… And we fell in love. After a particularly brutal beating I ended up on his doorstep and he took me in, no questions asked. He took care of me, healed my wounds and told me it was time to get out before my husband would kill me. He told me I deserved more than this and that he would help me. He supported me and for the first time I realized that maybe there was a way out... It still took a lot of persuasion to get me to press charges against my husband, and the court case was horror, but I managed… because of Carlos." They looked at each other, eyes full of love and shared memories. It was touching and yet very private and I almost felt like I was intruding. So I turned my head away for a moment and took a sip from my coke.

Wow, what a story. I could see why they didn't want this to become known. This was something very private and very painful. But I wasn't sure how this related to Ranger's behavior. However, Juanita wasn't finished yet, and after a moment she continued, her voice steadier now.

"I got a divorce and thought that that would be the end of it. I moved in with Carlos, we married during a very short, quiet and private ceremony and for me a life started that I never knew could exist, full of love, friendship and kindness." Her face showed a much happier smile now.

"But life is full of surprises and after a few months, I found out I was pregnant. That in itself wasn't that much of a surprise, we wanted children. But after the first tests, the doctor informed us that I had been pregnant for much longer than we thought. Carlos couldn't be the father…" Pain clearly showed on both their faces and they were quiet for a while, lost in thought.

I got a hunch of where this was going. Ranger was the oldest son. What if Carlos wasn't his biological father?

"We didn't want an abortion and we soon decided we would raise the baby as our own. We even put Carlos' name on the birth certificate, because I wanted to have nothing to do with my ex, and I certainly didn't want my children to have anything to do with him. To me, he was dead…" A bitter look crossed over her face, but soon it changed into something much softer.

"And then Ricardo was born. He was a perfect little baby, so sweet… and he even looked a bit like Carlos. Soon we had other children as well and we never even mentioned the fact that Ricardo had a different father than the others. There was no need really, because Carlos _was_ his real father. Carlos brought him to school, taught him how to ride a bike and took him to football and hockey games… But when Ricardo became 14, 15 years, his behavior changed. He became difficult to handle, stubborn and got into fights. He said he felt different, that he didn't fit in, that he was angry. I suddenly recognized some characteristics of my ex, and knew we had to do something before it got out of hand... So we made a very difficult decision, and we told him about his biological father. We hoped it would help him, that he would be willing to see a counselor about this… But we were wrong. He felt horribly betrayed by us… by Carlos… and he left the house after a huge fight… I thought I'd never see him again, he was so angry…" Two tears dripped down Juanita's cheeks, and I felt my eyes getting watery as well. I couldn't imagine what Ranger must have felt when he heard his biological father was a man who beat up his mother. Hell, I couldn't imagine how I would feel if my parents told me my father wasn't my real father…

Carlos hugged Juanita and gently rubbed her back while he started to speak.

"We didn't hear from him for days, and when we finally did it was because he was arrested. He had to go to prison and when he came out he was still angry with us. He would pick fights, especially with me. He would continuously remind us of our betrayal and how he couldn't help his behavior, it was in his genes and so on. In the end we saw no other solution than to send him to his grandmother in Florida, because our other children suffered as well. We hoped that a different environment would calm him down… It did, in the end… He finished high school there and then returned to us to go to college. He never spoke about the subject again, he started calling me 'dad' again and we thought that that was the end of it." Carlos too was lost in thought for a moment and I couldn't help but wonder how this story would continue.

Because somehow I got the feeling that this wasn't the end of it… at all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 31: Harsh reality**

_Warning: language and serious subjects_.

As soon as I kicked open the door, I knew we were in big trouble. Gruber and Wilder were in here, and they were prepared for us. They weren't alone, they were armed and they were angry. I shouted in my radio for back up as I started fighting the four guys who jumped me... I felt blows everywhere on my body… I punched one guy hard enough to make him fall to the floor and kicked another in the knee. But then I felt something hard hitting the back of my head and I felt myself go down on my knees, temporarily loosing vision. Just as I heard Tank shouting in my ear that he had kicked the shit out of the four guys attacking him and was coming to help me, I saw something from the corner of my eye… fuck… a gun… I tried to move away while making a grab for my own gun, but I was too late and too slow because of the blow to my head and I felt the two sharp stings as bullets entered my shoulder and leg and I thought why the hell am I wearing a vest if they are shooting me in my arms and legs. Then another blow to my side of my head made stars explode behind my eyes and the last thing I remember was my Babe, and how I didn't get to see her today…

_Stephanie POV_

Juanita and Carlos were lost in thought for a moment, and Aurelia picked up the story.

"We were very surprised when he told us he had enlisted for the army. He had never shown much interest in the army, so we had no idea where that came from. However, he went in and it turned out he was a natural. He became Special Forces after about 2 years and seemed well on his way to build a solid career, until he suddenly came home telling us he was married, with a child on the way. We were very surprised, he hadn't mentioned any woman at all. We knew he went out with his army mates, but we never heard him talk about anything other than drinking and watching a game. He explained the situation, told us he would divorce her again after the baby was born, but that he wanted to do the right thing and provide for his child. He found it very difficult to talk about it, and he seemed very aware of the moral issues involved, since she was a Catholic girl and everything. He seemed to be doing the right thing at the time and so we never thought much of it until 3 years later."

Aurelia took a sip of her coke and offered me another snack before she continued. This time I didn't even look at the plate and just picked the first thing that I saw. It tasted delicious anyway, but I was so wrapped up in the story that even food came into second place now. After everybody had something in their hands, she put the plate down again and resumed her story.

"Three years later, he had just returned from a particularly difficult operation. We never knew exactly what he was doing or where he was, but he had been away for almost a year. He came home and was very quiet, emotionally withdrawn. It wasn't unusual for him to be quiet or tired after a mission, but this was different. He was easily annoyed, angry about little things, he would spend hours on his own in his room. We tried to find out what was going on, but he wouldn't say a word. We thought it was related to whatever mission he had done, thinking he maybe lost a friend during this mission, or something like that. One night he got completely wasted, which was very unusual, and he started talking. First it made no sense to me, but slowly I began to understand what he was telling me. During that last mission, he had met a woman. A woman he fell in love with, but she had betrayed him. Turns out she was sleeping with the enemy, literally in this case. She was a local woman who had realized that those foreign soldiers were easy targets. She was pretty, did anything for cash and she was smart. She soon learned that she could find out a lot of information from tired, weary and sex deprived soldiers and she sold her secrets to the highest bidders. Although she never got any information from Ricardo, she did manage to get some information from another guy in the same camp, and as a result a good friend of Ricardo and team member was killed."

I was quietly thinking about this information. Ranger was the most moral person I knew, even if his moral code was different from the average. I had never realized that usually something very testing happens before your convictions become very strong. Before I could ponder this thought, Aurelia continued.

"Ricardo found out what happened because he caught this other guy and this woman in bed with each other. He had hit her and had kicked the shit out of this other guy and that emotional response bothered him extremely. He said he had behaved just like his biological father, using violence when he was angry. He said he never thought he could hit a woman ever in his life, but that he had wanted to kill her right there and then. He said he was no better than the bastard that had made his mothers life a living hell, and that he now realized he couldn't escape his genes, only suppress them. So he had vowed to himself to never ever get close to a woman again."

**Chapter 32: Trouble**

When Aurelia said that last sentence, it was very quiet for a moment. My mind was busy processing that last bit of information. Ranger thought he was a danger to me, that he would hit me in the end because I would push him over the edge on a bad moment. I couldn't believe my ears: he was the one who always kept me safe, he was the one who was always in control. I had never ever felt threatened by him.

We all have moments when it becomes too much, that is what makes you human. Granted, Ranger could do more damage than an average guy due to his training, but still. I knew Ranger killed a man for me, but that was to protect me. And I still remembered the evening when he was FTA and I had met up with him in the Bonds office because I had wanted to bring him in, and he had cuffed me so he could take me to a safehouse. He had released me in the end, despite his frustration. And during the time that Julie was kidnapped he must have been under a lot of stress, but he had never taken it out on me. Actually, it seemed in those days like he wanted to be closer to me, in stead of keeping his distance.

"But…" I started, wanting to say something about how the situation during his army mission and today were in no way the same, when Aurelia nodded.

"I know, I told him that same evening that he was making a big mistake. That yes, he had hit a woman, but she had pushed him to his limits and he hadn't killed her, despite his wish to do so. He hadn't killed the other guy either, in stead he told his commander what had happened and testified against him later on. But you know Ricardo, he is as stubborn as hell, once he sets his mind to something, it is no use trying to stop him. So from that day forward, we never heard him talk about a relationship, family or anything like that ever again. He did financially take care of his daughter, made sure he provided for her, but he remained emotionally distant. To him, the subject was closed."

A painful look crossed over the face of his mother, and she softly continued.

"We thought he would change when he got out of the army. We found out that he had started using his second name, Carlos, to honor my husband and because he felt that that was his real father and we thought that maybe he would also change his point of view on relationships, but he didn't. He started Rangeman and he worked really hard, so we didn't get to see much of him, but when we did and we asked him about women, he would simply tell us that there were no women in his life, and that he didn't want a family. He said he was happy with his life, that it was complete, but when some of our children married and had children of their own, we could see the longing in his eyes. We urged him to spend more time with Julie, but he said that that would only be dangerous to her."

"We had really given up hope when one day he came over for dinner and he was different. None of us could say exactly what was different about him, but we all noticed it. We thought maybe he had signed a good business deal or something like that, until a few weeks later he started mentioning this woman that he was training to become a bounty hunter."

Juanita smiled at me, and I could only guess what kind of stories they'd heard about me in those days. I could feel the color rising to my cheeks.

"He admired you for your tenacity and your instinct. He told us how you brought that police officer that was FTA into the police station and he was smiling and laughing during the whole story and for the first time we realized that you might be that one woman that he would fall in love with despite his intention to never get close to a woman again. However, he must have realized it himself as well, because after a while we heard less and less about you. But we did find out a few things through Tank. One day we asked him what was going on, because Ricardo seemed 'off' for some reason. Tank said he didn't know everything, but that he thought that Ricardo had fallen in love with you and was now fighting it. He told us about your relationship with the police officer and we thought that that was it, no hope left. Ricardo would keep his distance if you were involved with someone else. But we were glad to find out that you always remained in his life and that you helped him whenever needed. And then we heard that you and the cop had broken up, and we got our hopes up again, but nothing happened."

I almost laughed when his mother said she thought that Ranger would keep his distance because I was involved with Morelli. He had stopped just before we got naked on several occasions, but you couldn't say he hadn't brought it up… Aurelia smiled at me and I got the feeling she had a better idea of what Ranger's idea was of "keeping his distance" and took up the story.

"We couldn't believe it! Ricardo was in love and the woman was available and he didn't make a move! He was scared shitless. So when he got sick and you called, I finally saw a way to meet you and to get things moving between you two. We weren't sure about your feelings for him, but as soon as we saw you two together, we knew. You two are perfect together, so I set up a few plans to get you guys together. Of course it is always dangerous to interfere with Ricardo's life, but in this matter I saw no other way."

His parents were smiling at me and I was blushing again after the "perfect together" comment. Aurelia smiled too and gave me a quick hug.

"I'm so glad that you called me to tell me you wanted to get involved with him, you made my day. I was getting desperate myself and…"

Her phone rang and she looked at the display and frowned.

"One moment," she said and got up while she answered the phone.

"Hello?" She listened to the person on the other side and her whole body stiffened.

"When?" she practically barked into the phone.

"How bad?"

"Okay, I'm coming." Aurelia flipped her phone shut and looked at me with a very serious look in her eyes.

Uh oh, this couldn't be good.

"That was the hospital. Ricardo, Lester and Cal are on their way to the ER with various injuries. Apparently something went wrong during a capture of an FTA. They didn't have a whole lot of information for me yet, but I need to go there. Do you want to come, Stephanie?"

I felt panick rising in me and I could only nod my answer. I automatically got up and followed her to her car without saying a word.

While we were driving to the hospital there was only one thought in my mind: please let Ranger survive.

**Chapter** **33: Wakey, wakey**

I slowly regained consciousness and tried to remember what happened. Problem was that a very loud and irritating noise was all around me and it took me a while to realize that it was a siren. I tried to open my eyes, but the light was too bright and I quickly squeezed my eyes shut again, pain shooting through my head. I heard some noise around me and I felt a hand on my head, opening one eyelid and shining a light in my eyes. I tried to move my head away, because the light was causing a piercing pain in my skull, but I discovered I couldn't move my head. Shit.

The light was shone in my other eye now and suddenly I felt my stomach turn and threw up. For a moment I was choking but then I was turned on my side. When my stomach was empty, and I was rolled back on my back I felt a lot of pain everywhere. Something was placed over my mouth. I realized I couldn't remember what had happened, but I felt like I had been thrown down the stairs. More sounds around me, until I realized that somebody was actually talking to me.

"…hospital… hear me?... open… eyes…" Whatever. I couldn't be bothered right now. It was more important to find out where I was and what was going on. First of all, with me. I slowly started to move all my limbs to see if they were still attached when I found out that I could only move my feet and one hand, but no legs and no right arm. Okay, this was bad news. Something was quite tight around my neck, preventing movement, and I decided that that was the first thing that had to go.

It was about time for me to get away from this blaring siren anyway, so I moved my left hand to my neck and felt whatever it was that was around it, when my hand was grabbed and pulled away. More talking noises in the background, while I pulled my arm free and moved it back up. Whoever it was, he/she was a pain in the ass. First with the light, and now this. My arm was grabbed again, and this time the other person held on to it firmly, above my head this time. A different voice, close to my ear this time, talking to me. Something in the back of my mind told me that I knew this voice, but because I couldn't come up with a name, I let it go. Thinking hurt my head too much anyway.

I started moving my body, only to discover that I was strapped down on something hard and that movement hurt. Damn it. The talking close to my ear got louder, and it pissed me off. I needed some peace and quiet so I could think, not some screaming siren and someone shouting in my ear. My headache was bad enough already. I tried to move away from the sound, but found I still couldn't.

"Ranger… Ranger!... Wake up… Open your eyes…" Screw you, my eyes were staying closed! I tried to pull my hand back, but somebody was squeezing it.

"Come on, Ranger, open your eyes!" No, damn it. I am busy. I was again trying to move, a bit more forceful this time and found out two things. First that movement resulted in a lot of pain and secondly that the talking got louder every time I moved. I felt a hand on my shoulder which tried to stop my movement and I tried to shake it off. It wasn't working… Hmmm, I needed to think about this, so I stopped moving.

_Tank POV_

"Try to keep him as still as possible," the paramedic said to me. Hell, I was trying, but I didn't think that Ranger understood what was going on right now, and consequently he was moving all over the place, or at least as much as the straps allowed.

We were on our way to the hospital, and I was glad that he had started to regain consciousness, but I had no idea if there was any brain damage after the two blows to his head. There was an open wound on the back of his head which had resulted in quite some blood loss and there was a big bruise on the side of his head. Already, his left eye was almost swollen shut.

The paramedics had put him on a backboard with a neck collar to protect his neck. They had cut all his clothes off and a lot of damage was revealed. They had attached him to a heart monitor, given him an IV and placed an oxygen mask over his mouth, and they had fixated his right arm because of the bullet wound in his shoulder. There was another bullet wound in his leg and bruising all over him. It looked like some ribs might be broken and he had sprained an ankle. The bruise from the elevator door was clearly visible on his arm by now as was the bruise on his hip which he got from the FTA when Hal had sprayed him with pepper spray earlier today. But that would heal in a matter of days or weeks. My biggest worry right now was his head. So I squeezed his shoulder and started urging him to open his eyes once again.

_Ranger POV_

"Ranger, open your eyes." Jeez, this person was insistent. So to please whoever it was, I opened my eyes, only to close them straight away because of the light.

"That's it… Come on, open your eyes." The other voice was at it again as well, so I tried again, slower this time and with a lot of blinking I managed to open my eyes. Hang on, only one eye was open, the other wasn't… What the hell?!

"Ranger… Ranger…" I looked up and saw Tank. Tank! That was the voice I had heard earlier, I remembered now.

"Hey, man," Tank said. I tried to say something back, but my voice wasn't working. My throat was dry and raw from the throwing up. I swallowed and cleared my throat.

"Hi," I said back.

"Do you remember what happened?" Tank asked with concern. I had to think about that. Nope, couldn't say I remembered what happened, so I tried to shake my head.

"You got shot and hit on the head." Really?! Well, that would explain the head ache.

"Hi, my name is Dean and I'm a paramedic. You're on your way to hospital." I shifted my eyes to Dean and just nodded.

"How do you feel? Are you in any pain?" Dean asked. I was thinking about this question when I saw Tank sitting near my head.

"Hey Tank," I said, wondering what he was doing here.

"Ranger," Tank said slowly, looking at a second guy who was sitting to my right.

"I think he has a concussion. He will probably ask a lot of questions again and again. Just answer them every time in the same way, because right now his memory doesn't record anything," the guy said. I hope he wasn't talking about me.

"What am I doing here?" I asked, trying to move but finding that I couldn't.

"You're on your way to hospital, you have a concussion and you got shot." I just nodded and tried really hard to think about how I got this concussion, but my mind went blank. Great. A horrible thought occurred to me.

"Babe! Where is she? Is she alright?" I started to move, but Tank put a hand on my shoulder and held me down.

"She's fine, Ranger. Don't move." I settled down again and closed my eyes against the bright light inside the ambulance.

Some moments later, I felt something on my arm and opened my eyes again, and saw that someone was attaching a blood pressure cuff to my arm.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Dean and I'm a paramedic. You're on your way to hospital because you got shot and hit on the head," he said. Tank moved into my view. He looked worried.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, but he didn't answer me. In stead he looked at Dean.

"Is this normal?" he asked Dean. Dean nodded and said:

"Yeah, don't worry about it. So far he is showing classic signs of a concussion, and they will give him a scan in the hospital, just to be sure."

"Is what normal?" I asked, but nobody answered. How rude.

**Chapter 34**

When we arrived at the hospital, I was beyond worried. Aurelia talked to some people at the desk and then walked back to me.

"Ricardo is in the Trauma room. I'm going in now to see what's going on. You can follow me to the entrance of the room, but you'll have to wait outside, okay?" I nodded and Aurelia guided me through a short hall on the left. We were standing in front of a large area with a few beds and a lot of equipment. The doors had windows, but were closed. However, some sounds drifted through, like the beeping of a heart monitor and some shouted orders. I could see that one bed was taken, and with a grasp I realized that it was Ranger who was laying in that bed. Aurelia grabbed my upper arms turned me to face her.

"Steph, don't worry yet, okay. It might look really scary and serious, but remember that a lot is just precaution. I'll let you know as soon as I can what's going on. Just wait here, okay?"

"Okay," I whispered and she was gone through the doors.

I looked at Ranger, or what I could see of him. He was strapped down to a backboard and there was a brace around his neck. He seemed to have bruises everywhere, and there was a bandage around his upper leg and shoulder. There were maybe 6 people running around him, doing all kinds of things. He was hooked up to a monitor, there were 3 IV's hanging next to his bed and he had an oxygen mask over his face. Blood seemed to be everywhere. I couldn't do any other thing than just stare and hope that it wasn't as bad as it looked.

I could see Aurelia approach Ranger and talk to him. Ranger seemed agitated, he was constantly trying to move and his one free hand was trying to get the neck brace off. Aurelia grabbed his hand and held it away from the brace, and Ranger squirmed some more. A nurse took over Ranger's hand and held it while Aurelia shone a light in Rangers eyes. I could hear his voice, but I couldn't make out the words. Suddenly there was a lot of movement and they turned Ranger on his side, with backboard and all and I could see Aurelia jumping back, but apparently too late because she now had a large stain on the front of her shirt. After a minute they turned Ranger back on his back again and someone wiped his face and replaced the oxygen mask. Aurelia exchanged a few more words with Ranger and then walked towards the door again.

As soon as she was through the door, I almost jumped her.

"How is he, what's wrong with him, is he going to be okay?"

"Slow down, slow down, Steph. So far it looks like he has a lot of injuries, but none of them life threatening. The biggest problem right now is that he has a concussion, and he keeps forgetting what happened, so he is very combative. He was shot twice, in his leg and shoulder, he has a lot of bruises and one head wound which will need stitches. He will need a CT scan of his head to see if there is any damage, he will need surgery for those bullet wounds and the laceration to the back of his head, he'll have a few x-rays taken to see if he broke any bones and he will need a lot of ice and rest so the bruises can heal."

"But he will be okay?" I asked anxiously.

"Right now it looks good, but we'll have to wait for the CT and x-rays."

"What happened to your shirt?" I asked, looking at the stain.

"He threw up, it is very common for people with a concussion to throw up, and unfortunately he threw up over me. I'm going to change and then I'll go back in."

"When can I talk to him?"

"You will have to… hang on," Aurelia said, because several sounds erupted from the room. It looked as though Ranger had managed to pull out an IV and was trying to loose his neck brace while two guys desperately tried to keep him down. I could hear someone shout for security and Aurelia mumbled something in Spanish under her breath and then ran back into the room.

_Ranger POV_

I still didn't know where I was, and I was getting pissed off.

"Ricardo!" I suddenly heard and realized that that was my sister's voice. I stopped my struggle for a moment in surprise and immediately I felt my left arm being tied down. Shit.

"Aurelia, what the fuck is going on?"

"Ricardo, calm down. You're in the hospital, you were shot and you have a concussion. You have to stay still while they treat you."

"What are you talking about?" My memory was one big empty space right now, so I had no idea what she was talking about.

"Ricardo, you were shot about 30 minutes ago and you took 2 blows to the head. You're in the hospital now."

"What happened to your shirt?" I asked, because she had a huge stain down the front.

"Ehm… someone got sick," she said. Suddenly I felt a familiar tingle and looked around.

"Where's Stephanie, is she okay?" I didn't know why, but I knew I had to see her. So I tried to move again, but found out that all my limbs were tied down now. My left arm was tied over my head, my right to the side of the bed and both legs were tied down as well.

"Ricardo, stop moving!" Aurelia's voice was very stern.

"Let me go, I need to see Stephanie."

_Aurelia POV_

Ricardo was getting combative again, and I wasn't sure what to do. I could always knock him out with some sedative, but that was not advisable while we weren't sure what was going on in his head. However, all this moving and squirming could increase any damage to his neck and had to stop. I decided it was time for a gamble and motioned to Stephanie who was still waiting outside, nose to the glass. She seemed to hesitate, but I motioned her again, while grabbing Ricardo's head in order to stop him moving.

"If you keep this up, I'll sedate you. Lay still, I'm serious!" I told him.

"Don't you dare to sedate me!" he bit back.

"Not much you can do about it, brother," I said to him, and showed him the syringe with the sedative.

"Move again and I'll sedate you, is that clear?" His eyes were large with anger, but he did stop moving.

I looked up to see Stephanie standing about a meter away from the bed, eyes huge and unsure. Ricardo couldn't see her yet, so I motioned her closer.

"Ricardo, Stephanie is here," I said and pulled Steph closer to the bed. Ricardo looked at her for a moment, and I could see his heart rate drop 10 beats while he gave her a small smile. Wow!

"Ranger, are you okay?" she asked him and he was quiet for a moment. He probably had forgotten again what was going on, but didn't want to tell her that. I had to smile at that, my brother always wanted to appear strong and in control, even when he was tied down to a hospital bed with injuries all over him and was under threat of sedation in order to keep him still.

"I'm fine," he said, and Stephanie actually snorted. I laughed as well, and he glared at me.

"You probably will be much better in a few days, but first you will get your ct-scan," I said while I pulled the protective barrier on the side of his bed up and covered him with a blanket so we could transport him upstairs.

"Just wait down here, Steph, we'll be back in about 20 minutes."

"Okay," she said, but her eyes never left Ricardo's and she followed us right up to the elevator. 'He'll be fine' I mouthed to her, because she looked so worried and she gave me small nod, not yet sure.

As soon as the elevator doors closed, Ricardo looked up at me and said:

"What's going on, where am I?" and started moving again.

I sighed and realized he must have forgotten my earlier threat. Don't you just love guys with concussions?

**Chapter 35**

I was looking at Ranger while he was asleep. The heart monitor showed a steady and regular beat and his breathing was deep and even. He had kicked off most of the blanket, and the only thing he was wearing was a boxer short, which didn't cover much. I slowly looked him over, noting all the damage. His right lower leg was in a cast and his knee was swollen and blue. There was a bandage on his upper thigh where a bullet had left a flesh wound. Aurelia told me that there was also a large bruise on his hip, of which I could only see the upper half see because of the boxer short. His ribs were covered in bruises, of which one was particularly large and dark. I knew the x-rays had shown two cracked ribs, and my guess was that they were under that bruise. My gaze traveled further up, over his broad chest and the lines and stickers for the heart monitor and noted the white bandage on his shoulder and across his chest, which covered the second bullet wound. His arm was in a sling to give his shoulder some rest. His other arm had 2 IV's in it, one in the back of his hand and one on the inside of his arm. Three bags of fluids hung above him, each of them dripping at a different rate. His face was very colorful, with a large bruise on the side of his head where he was hit with an iron bar and several smaller bruises in other places. There was a bandage across his forehead and around his head, which covered the cut in the back of his head. He was receiving oxygen through tubes in his nose and the tubes were placed over his ears and tied together under his chin. Aurelia said he would probably wake up in a few minutes, but right now he seemed to be far away.

His head had been scanned and I was more than relieved when Aurelia told me that they hadn't found any damage. She did tell me he had a severe concussion, but that he would have no lasting damage if he would follow instructions. They had operated on him to remove the bullets and stitch the back of his head. The operation had lasted about an hour, and after 30 minutes in recovery he had been transported to the room he was currently in, and Aurelia had asked me if I wanted to stay with him until he woke up. Hell yeah! So for the last 20 minutes I had been sitting next to him, watching him, softly stroking the hand with the IV's in it, waiting for him to open his eyes. According to Aurelia he would probably be a bit disorientated when he woke up, but would be able to remember most of what happened. She said that he had become much more coherent just before they operated on him. I really hoped she was right, because forgetful Ranger scared the hell out of me.

Tank had stayed with me while Ranger was in surgery, as had half of Rangeman. When the news came back that it went okay and that he would recover, a few cheers were heard and most men had returned to Rangeman to resume their duties. Tank had said he would check up on Lester and Cal, who had minor injuries and had been waiting in the ER for treatment while I was sitting with Ranger.

A small moan escaped his lips and he moved his head. Probably it was painful to lay on the back of his head, with all those stitches in it. He was definitely waking up though, because he was starting to move and he was sighing. I grabbed his hand and gently squeezed it.

"Ranger…. Ranger… open your eyes," I said softly, watching him. Suddenly, with a short intake of breath he opened his eyes and seemed startled. He started to sit up, only to stop when he was about 1 inch of the mattress and drop back with a groan. Instinctively I grabbed his good shoulder and squeezed it a little.

"Shhh, don't get up…" He looked at me for a moment and his eyes became a bit clearer. He slowly looked around the room and looked back at me again.

"You're in the hospital, you've had surgery," I said and he slowly nodded and then pointed to the water that was standing on the bedside table. I grabbed the cup with straw and held it in front of him. He slowly took a sip and swallowed.

"How do you feel?" I asked. He cleared his throat before he spoke.

"How are the others?" he asked in a raspy voice. The others?

"Who?" I asked.

"Lester and Cal… how are they?" he croaked. I had to smile. This was typically Ranger. He was the one who was seriously injured, but his first question was about his men.

"They are fine, minor cuts and bruises," I said. Relief showed on his face.

"We were more worried about you…" I continued and Ranger grimaced.

"How bad… is it?" he asked. It was clear that he was starting to feel some pain.

"Let me get Aurelia," I said. I had promised Aurelia I'd get her as soon as he'd wake up, and as much as I liked this private time with him, I wanted a doctor to look him over again, just to be sure. He really looked worse for wear.

I pressed the bell and Ranger groaned at the mention of his sister, but not from pain this time.

"Aurelia is here?" he asked with his eyes closed.

"Yeah, she treated you in the ER and assisted during the surgery," I said, wondering how much he remembered.

"Great," he said, and Aurelia chose that moment to enter the room.

"Ricardo, you're awake," she said happily and he just glared at her.

"How do you feel?" she asked him.

"Fine," he gritted out while Aurelia was attaching a blood pressure cuff to his arm.

"Don't lie to me, Ricardo," Aurelia said smiling, inflating the cuff and pressing her stethoscope just below the cuff on his arm while listening and slowly deflating the cuff. She grabbed the chart hanging on the end of the bed and wrote something down on it. She looked at him and started asking questions.

"How is your headache?"

"Bad."

"Are you feeling nauseous?"

"No."

"Do you remember what happened today?"

"Yes."

"Tell me," Aurelia said.

"I'm in hospital after surgery because I got shot twice by an FTA," Ranger said. Aurelia nodded.

"What did you have for breakfast today?" she asked him. He seemed to think for a moment before he responded.

"Nothing, I ran out of granola and yoghurt." I rolled my eyes at that.

"What did you have for lunch?"

"Two bites of a hamburger and a few fries," Ranger said, and I felt my eyes popping out of my head. Ranger eating fastfood?

"What?" Even Aurelia seemed surprised.

"Long story. When can I get out of here?" Ranger asked, obviously changing subjects.

"I'd like to keep you for a few days, monitor your condition," Aurelia said.

"No need, my condition is just fine."

"Right," was all Aurelia said, and then proceeded with the check up.

"Tell me when it hurts," she said, while gently probing his face. When she got to the bruise on the side of his head, he tried to move his head away.

"Does it hurt?" Aurelia asked again, and he just glared at her.

"Does it or doesn't it, Ricardo?" she persisted.

"Yes, it does," he said through clenched teeth.

"Then tell me, Ricardo," she scolded him. She continued to feel around his neck, but everything seemed to be okay.

She grabbed her stethoscope and placed it on several places on his chest, listening to his heart, and then asked him if he could sit up so she could listen to his lungs. He slowly moved himself into a sitting position, taking careful breaths and grimacing in pain. I realized that it must be very painful for him to do that with his two cracked ribs and all those bruises. Aurelia quickly listened to his lungs and then helped him to lay back down again. It was the first time I saw Ranger accept her help without complaint, so I realized he must be in a lot of pain. When he was laying down again, he closed his eyes for a moment. The heart monitor showed a much higher rate, an indication of the level of discomfort that Ranger was experiencing, and then one of the machines started beeping. Aurelia checked the machine and pressed a button, and the beeping stopped.

"Your oxygen level is a bit low, I'll give you a mask," Aurelia said to Ranger, and she opened a cupboard and grabbed one. She plugged it in and then gently removed the oxygen tubes from his nose and placed the mask over his nose and mouth. Ranger hadn't protested, moved or opened his eyes, and I was feeling a bit worried.

"Ricardo?" Aurelia asked.

"Mmm?" was all the sound that he made.

"Do you want a painkiller?"

"…Nooo…" he said, slightly slurred. Aurelia placed a hand on his good shoulder and smiled at me.

"He's falling asleep again, perfectly normal after the anesthetic. He'll probably wake up again quite soon, because of the pain."

"How long does he have to stay here?" I asked.

"I would like to keep him for a few days, but I'm not sure if I can make him stay. I'm gonna try, though, and I've got some tricks up my sleeve," Aurelia said, while smiling at me. I was wondering if she was talking about sedating him again…

_Tank POV_

I had to admire Aurelia for her guts. She is the only person I know who will take Ranger head on. I'm second in command at Rangeman, but even I pick my battles with him. Currently she was trying to get him to stay in the hospital when he was hell-bent on getting out of here. And we were only on day two.

Last night, Stephanie had stayed with him and he had been in too much pain to protest his stay in hospital anyway. Finally, Aurelia had given him a strong sedative that had knocked him out for the night and Stephanie had slept in the room with him. This morning he was a lot more awake than last night, and he wanted to get out asap. I knew he hated hospitals, and the very thought of being in his sister's care scared the shit out of him. However, Aurelia had explained to me in clear words what could happen if he went back to work too soon. His concussion was serious, and he should stay in bed for 2 weeks, flat on his back. No pillows, no sitting up other than for eating or drinking, no nothing. Just laying there. If he didn't do that, he ran a serious risk of long term after effects, such as severe headaches. But how the hell do you get a former Special Forces guy to stay in bed, doing nothing, for two whole weeks?

"I'm serious, Ricardo, if you so much as move your big toe, you're in big trouble." Aurelia's said, her anger and frustration clearly visible and audible.

"I'm no child, you can't keep me here against my will," Ranger shot back, his eyes black with anger. Stephanie stood on the side, watching the exchange between them like a tennis match. I was standing next to the door, waiting to see where this was going. I agreed with Aurelia, Ranger should stay in hospital for a few more days at least, but I was waiting to see how this fight would end first.

Luckily, his parents chose this moment to come in, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. Aurelia looked up and smiled and Ranger groaned when his mother asked them what was going on. This could get interesting!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 36**

"Ricardo, how are you feeling?" My father was the one who asked a question that I could answer… more or less. I felt like shit, but I wasn't going to say that.

"I'm fine," I said in stead, and I could see all the women in the room rolling their eyes.

"You can't be fine, Ricardo, look at you!" my mother exclaimed, and I grimaced inwardly. Tank looked like he was enjoying the whole show and I shot him a glare.

"How long will you keep him in hospital?" Mother was talking to Aurelia now, and Aurelia saw her chance and grabbed it with both hands.

"He'll have to stay here for 4 to 5 days, and then he can go home on the condition that he will stay in bed for another week at least. His concussion needs time to heal." This last bit was said with emphasis in my direction.

"I can go home now and recuperate there, no need for me to stay in hospital."

"I'm your doctor, and I'm telling you that you have to stay here. His injuries are serious, he needs medical care." This last part she said to mother, who looked at me with worry in her eyes. I saw that my father had a small smile around his lips, he knew what Aurelia was doing. If she could get mother to say the words, I would have to stay here or risk a serious fight with her. And since I love my mother and I grew up with her being the only person who could tell me what to do, I haven't yet mastered the skill of going against her wishes. Somehow I don't think it will ever happen. But I really wanted to go home, spend time together with Stephanie…

"Look, Bobby has some medical skills. He can provide whatever medical care I need. There is no reason for me to stay here." I wasn't giving up this fight easily.

"Oh no, Ricardo. Bobby is your employee. I know how that goes. You tell him to get lost, and he can't do much then, can he? No way I'm releasing you into the care of Bobby." Damn, Aurelia had seen right through my plan.

"Can't you take care of him?" mother asked Aurelia. No! No way! That was NOT a good idea. I opened my mouth to protest, but Aurelia was faster.

"I can check up on him on a daily basis, but he needs someone around all the time. He needs help… Maybe…" Uh oh, Aurelia had that look in her eyes that usually had me growling in frustration… internally anyway.

"He could come home with us," my mother said and I almost choked. I coughed and sharp pains shot through my side because of the cracked ribs. Stephanie, who was sitting beside the bed, grabbed my hand and gently squeezed it while I tried to get my breathing under control again. After a moment I squeezed back, letting her know that I was okay and she gave me a small smile.

"Mmmm," Aurelia said, which indicated to me that she had a different plan. For once I was happy to hear it.

"Your house has two levels, and Ricardo can't move around. It would be better if he went to his apartment and had somebody there who could take care of him. Maybe… Stephanie, can you take care of him?" The first good idea I heard in a long time! Stephanie was blushing, but she did seem to like the plan. I squeezed her hand and gave her a smile, indicating my approval. She smiled back and then nodded at Aurelia.

"Yes, I can take care of Ranger," she said.

"Good, I'll probably release him in 5 days," Aurelia said, and my anger was back.

"Release me now," I gritted out.

"No."

"If you don't release me now, I'll discharge myself," I said and started to get up. The pain was intense, but I didn't care right now. Anything to get me out of here, and away from the watchful eyes of Aurelia… and ALL the nurses.

Big mistake, because the blanket fell down to my waist and my mother saw the damage on my upper body. She gasped and then said the words I hoped I wouldn't hear.

"Ricardo Carlos Manoso, you lay down right now!" Her voice was clear, her tone unarguable. Tank was biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud. He loved to see me getting pushed around by my family.

"It's just bruising," I said, but I knew it was a lost cause by now.

"I don't care. If Aurelia says you need to stay in hospital for another 5 days, you stay for another 5 days." Shit. I was still thinking about a way out, when my mother moved towards the bed.

"I'm serious, Ricardo. Look at you, you're all black and blue. Aurelia tells me you were very lucky that you didn't have brain damage. You have serious injuries, you need to rest. Please…" Her tone was pleading and her eyes were watery. She was using the guilt card again, and I didn't have a defense against that. I slowly sank back down on the bed and closed my eyes for a moment, feeling deflated. Aurelia had outmaneuvered me again.

"That's right. You get some rest. We'll visit you again tomorrow," mother said. They said goodbye and Aurelia said she would walk them to the exit and closed the door behind her.

Without looking I knew Tank was smiling.

"You can wipe that smile of your face, Tank," I said threateningly and opened my eyes to look at him, but he was still smiling. Even Stephanie was chuckling.

"I'll let the guys know they can visit you _here_ tonight and not in the apartment," Tank said while laughing and opened the door to leave the room. I grabbed the first thing that came to hand, which turned out to be an orange and threw it at him. Unfortunately he heard the movement and quickly closed the door, so the orange bounced off and fell on the floor. I could hear his laughter through the door and sighed in frustration. Stephanie went to retrieve the orange and placed it back on the dish before sitting down next to me again.

"Is it really that bad to stay here for a few days?" she asked softly.

"Yes," I said.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because WE have no privacy here," I said in a low voice and saw the blush creep up on her face.

_Stephanie POV_

I looked in Ranger's dark brown eyes which were now filled with lust and felt myself blushing. Last night, before Aurelia had given him a sedative that had knocked him out, we had had some time together and had talked. That conversation had played over and over in my head and had put a smile on my face before I fell asleep and as soon as I woke up.

_"I missed you today, Babe."_

_"Why? Not enough entertainment?" I said in a teasing tone. _

_"No, not like that. I missed YOU." He was very serious. _

_"What do you mean?" I asked, feeling a bit apprehensive. _

_"I've had a horrible day, and I missed you... I miss you everyday that I don't see you." His eyes were dilated in the soft light and he was talking in a low voice. I was wondering what he was saying, really. I wasn't sure how to respond, but to my surprise, Ranger continued talking. _

_"Aurelia gave me a book… ehm, just yesterday. About relationships." He snorted and then looked at me and saw my surprise. He laughed. _

_"Don't tell me she send you a book too, Babe?" _

_"Uhm, yeah," I said. _

_"Aurelia send you a book about relationships?" he asked again. _

_"Uhm… yeah… sort of…" I trailed off. I mean, it was more about men behaving like pigs, but I wasn't sure I wanted Ranger to know that. _

_"Did you read it?" he asked and I averted my eyes for a moment. I heard him chuckling and looked at him again. _

_"How many chapters have you read?" he asked and I looked away again. _

_"Come on, Babe, tell me," he pushed. _

_"I finished the book today," I said softly, blushing. _

_"That must have been some book," Ranger said. _

_"Uhm, yeah." I wanted to tell him that I knew about his past, but I wasn't sure how he would respond. He was a very private_ _person. _

_"Was it any good?" Ranger asked and I just nodded. _

_"So, do you want a relationship?" Ranger asked and I felt my heart speed up. _

_"What dddo you mean?" I stuttered. _

_"Aurelia send you a book about relationships and you read it. I'm assuming you read it on purpose, and logically the purpose would be that you want a relationship," Ranger explained. I bit my lip and then decided that I wanted this conversation, but on my terms. _

_"Yes, I do want a relationship. And you, did you read the book?" I asked him. _

_"I read part of it last night, but I didn't have much time today to continue," he said. _

_"But you want to read it because you want a relationship?" I pushed him and he just looked at me with unreadable eyes for a moment before answering. _

_"Yes," he finally answered after a long moment. _

_"With me? Do you want a relationship with me?" I asked, and it felt like time was standing still when our eyes met. _

_"Babe," he said. One word, so many meanings. _

_"What?" I said, a horrible feeling building in my stomach. His eyes were calm, but I felt panicky._

_"There is no other person in this world that I ever wanted a relationship with more than with you. But I'm not the right guy for a relationship. My life is too dangerous." His tone was final, but I remembered Aurelia's words from this afternoon, about him vowing to never have another relationship again. _

_"Your life is too dangerous… or do you think you are too dangerous?" I asked him softly and his head snapped up. _

_"What?!" _

_"I know… about your past, …about your biological father and Carlos, …about the woman who betrayed you…, about your fear that you might hurt a person you love…Your family explained it to me this afternoon…" Surprise and anger flashed in his eyes before his blank face slammed into place._

_"Then you know why I can't get any closer to you," he said, looking away. _

_"I'm not afraid of you, Ranger. And I know you are never going to be like your biological father… I think you know that too… But you are still afraid… Why?... Are you afraid I might betray you?" _

_"No."_

_"Do you want a relationship with me?"_

_"You know I do, Stephanie."_

_"Then I don't see a reason why we couldn't try to build a relationship together." _

_"Babe…" Ranger seemed lost for words and made an empty gesture in the air with his hand. Inside I was cheering, because I had managed to stay calm, on the topic and used logic to get my point across. The book had been right!! _

_"Ranger…" I said back while smiling and slowly bend forward until my lips were touching his. I kissed him softly and slowly and I felt him relax into the kiss. His arm came around me and he tried to pull me closer when we heard a soft cough behind us. It was Aurelia. _

_"Hiya, guys. Everything alright?" She was smiling and winked at me. I blushed. _

_"I'm fine," Ranger said for like the 10th time today, and I don't think anybody ever believed him. Aurelia gave him another 'yeah, right' look and checked his chart and the various machines around him. _

_"How's the pain?" Aurelia asked. _

_"I'm fine," Ranger said again and Aurelia snorted and then turned to me. _

_"Is he in pain?" she asked me and I could see Ranger glaring at her from the corner of my eyes and then shooting me a warning look. Sorry, mister, but it wasn't going to work this time. I had seen him grow more and more uncomfortable during the evening, and I wasn't going to lie about it. To me, he was human… and in desperate need of a painkiller. _

_"Yes, he's in pain," I said. _

_"Okay, I'll get him something. I'll be back in 5 minutes," Aurelia said and then left the room. _

_"Babe," Ranger groaned. _

_"Why don't you want a painkiller? I know you're in pain, I can see it." _

_"Painkillers knock me out…" _

_"Yeah, so?" _

_"I don't like to be unconscious in such an unsecured environment." I rolled my eyes._

_"Don't worry, I'll protect you," I said smiling. _

_"Very funny, Babe," he said, a little sarcasm in his tone. He was shifting, trying to get comfortable, but his face showed occasional grimaces of pain and his breathing hitched. He gave up after a minute and closed his eyes on a sigh. I felt something stir in me and bend forward to kiss his lips while my right hand gently caressed the top of his head. _

_"Babe," he said on another sigh, but it was a sigh of contentment. _

_"So… do you want a relationship with me?" I asked him again, my voice low and my mouth close to his ear. _

_"I want you," he said, eyes playful. Oh no, I wasn't going to allow him to sidetrack this conversation again. _

_"Answer the question, Ranger," I said. He was silent for a moment, while I kissed the side of his neck and nibbled on his ear. I could hear the heart monitor speed up and smiled at the evidence of the influence that I had on him. _

_"Babe," he growled and I gently bit him. He gasped and then we heard Aurelia clear her throat behind us… again! _

_"Hiya guys, I'm back." She was laughing. I could suddenly understand why Ranger didn't always like to have her around! She held 2 syringes in her hand and walked towards Ranger. She grabbed his arm with the IV's and turned it so that his wrist was up. _

_"What are you going to give me?" Ranger asked. _

_"A painkiller and a sedative," Aurelia said. _

_"I don't need either of them," he said. _

_"You're getting them for free, on the house," Aurelia replied dryly while she disconnected one of the IV's. She held his arm and prepared the first injection._

_"I'll first give you the sedative," she said, and inserted the syringe in the IV. She slowly emptied the syringe and then withdrew the needle. She reconnected the IV in his arm and then checked the IV in the back of his hand. She apparently decided against using that one, because she turned his arm again and used some alcohol to clean a small area halfway between his wrist and elbow. _

_"Going to torture me?" Ranger asked with his eyes closed. _

_"Sorry about that," Aurelia said and inserted the needle in his arm. Ranger didn't move a muscle. I felt lightheaded from just seeing that needle going in his arm and looked away for a moment. _

_"This will start working in 10 to 15 minutes, maybe even less," Aurelia said while she collected her things and left the room. _

_I wasn't sure what to do now. I wanted to return to the subject of relationships, but with Ranger doped up, this probably wasn't the right moment. I watched his face for a few minutes and slowly saw him relax. I was convinced he was asleep when he turned his head and looked at me through heavy lidded eyes. _

_"Yes… I want… a relationship… with you…" His speech was slightly slurred, but the message was clear. I felt the biggest shiteating smile form itself on my face and leaned forward to kiss him once more. He slowly kissed me back and then sighed. _

_"I hate… this… I'm… falling… asleep, when… we… could be…" he trailed off and I felt a hot flash inside me. _

_"Don't worry, I'll wait," I said, stroking his hair and face. _

_"Stay… please?" _

_"I'm not going anywhere." I gave him one last kiss and then watched him sleep until Aurelia offered to set up a stretcher next to his bed._

**Chapter 37: Playing hide and seek**

_Warning: some smut_

I listened intently, but I heard nothing. Good, that meant that Steph had left the apartment like she said she would and I could get out of my bed for a few hours. I slowly sat up and hopped to my closet. I picked a comfy sweater and sweatpants and pulled them on. I didn't bother with socks or anything else because it would take some time to put them on and I had better things to do. I hopped to the bedroom door and slowly opened it to peek around it, seeing an empty living room. Excellent. I quickly grabbed my keys and then hopped to the elevator. I knew I was on camera, but I also knew that nobody would call Steph they liked their job too much. I hopped into my office and immediately my phone rang. I knew who that was without checking caller id.

"Tank," I said.

"Ranger," he replied, and then remained quiet.

"Talk," I said.

"I take it Stephanie has left the building," he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. I remained quiet.

"Take it easy," he said and disconnected.

I powered up my computer and groaned when I saw the amount of new emails in my inbox. There was an awful lot of work for me to do, and laying in bed staring at the ceiling wasn't going to get the job done. Besides, I hardly felt any pain anymore so there was no need for me to stay in bed. Hell, I wouldn't have stayed in the hospital for 5 days if my mother hadn't forced me to. And I definitely wouldn't have spend another week in bed if Stephanie hadn't been around, guarding me. I couldn't help but smile when thinking about my Babe. It was great to have her around, even if she did on occasion get on my nerves because she forced me to stay in bed.

I shook my head to clear my mind. I had more than enough time to think about Steph when I was back in bed, so I'd better get some work done now.

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Shit! I heard her voice in the hallway and knew I was busted. I heard her talking to Tank, asking where I was. I couldn't hear Tank's response, but knew he wouldn't lie to her. He had a soft spot for her and I think he secretly supported her goal of making me spend as many hours in bed as possible. He and I would have to … talk… about that once I was fit for duty again. I heard her steps coming towards my office door and started to shut down the computer. My escape had lasted 1 hour and 34 minutes, at least it was a new record.

"Ranger." She had a bemused look in her eyes and just stood there in the doorway, watching me clean up my desk. She didn't even have to say anything anymore, I knew I would end up back in bed one way or the other. And since lots of ears were listening, I decided I wasn't going to put up a fight. Besides, I suspected she went away on purpose, to give me some time to escape so I wouldn't go crazy and I was grateful for that. I pushed my chair back and got up, hopping to her. She took a step back to let me pass and then closed the door behind her while I pushed the button for the elevator. In the elevator she looked at me.

"How long?" she asked with amusement. She always asked me how long I had managed to escape her.

"Too short," I replied.

"Poor baby," she said and gave me a hug.

"I saw the time code on the elevator camera, 1.5 hours is a new record, isn't it?" she whispered in my ear and I had to smile. I pulled her against me and kissed her until the elevator doors opened. This was my Babe.

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I pretended to be asleep when she came in the bedroom to check on me. I knew she really wanted to go shopping for an afternoon, I had heard her talk to Lula and Marylou on her cell about going to Macy's, and that meant she would be gone for several hours. And she knew I would be out of my bed before she had even left the garage. The reason she knew that was because she forgot her purse yesterday and had caught me in the hall waiting for the elevator when she came back up to get it. Amusement had twinkled in her eyes when she saw my shoulders slump and she had silently pointed back to the apartment, a picture I had become quite familiar with… and found sexy as hell. I couldn't wait until the day I could simply grab her again, throw her over my shoulder and carry her to the bedroom. A bit too cavemen for you? Fine, you try living together with a sexy woman for over two weeks, but never making it past first base. She had waited until I was undressed again and had covered me with the duvet, giving me a slow kiss and then whispered in my ear.

"Next time, wait 5 minutes." I had growled something under my breath and she had left again.

Today, I had waited 5 minutes and now knew the coast was clear for 3 to 4 hours at least. I got dressed in jeans and a sweater and went downstairs. I first checked in with the guys in the control room and then talked to Tank for a few minutes. I knew I was amusing my employees to no end with the little game of hide and seek that Stephanie and I were playing, but decided to let it go. I would be back to work in a few days and then the fun was over. I went up to my sales department and kicked Rodriquez out of his office so I could work there. It would take Stephanie a bit longer to find me there.

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This time my escape lasted for 3 hours and 23 minutes and I was actually happy she caught me because I was getting tired and had been seriously considering going back upstairs myself to catch some rest before dinner, but I hadn't wanted to give in. This way I was saved the curious glances and consequent gossip that somehow would always end up with Tank and Stephanie about me going back to bed voluntarily.

In stead Stephanie had done her sexy finger pointing again and I had heard several smothered laughs when I had hopped out of the office to the elevator.

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I woke up with a start and looked around, trying to figure out where I was. Oh yeah, I remembered. I had escaped again, this time I had managed to get out when she had fallen asleep on the couch in front of the tv. Because she would realize I was gone as soon as she woke up, I had tried to find a place that was harder to find. In the end I had scrambled the security cameras in the whole building for 2 minutes while I had made my way down to the garage and had slipped in the Cayenne. Due to the tinted windows, the security cameras wouldn't be able to detect me in there. And because it was already past 8 in the evening there was very little activity in the garage.

It had been an excellent hiding place, because she hadn't found me. That could mean she was either still asleep herself, or because she really didn't know where I was. But I had taken my phone and she hadn't called me, so I suspected she was still asleep on my couch upstairs. I had fallen asleep myself and saw it was now almost 11. I cursed when I saw Tank standing in front of the car, smirking. I couldn't believe myself. I was laying in bed for up to 20 hours a day, bored out of my skull and when I finally managed to get away, I fell asleep. I had just wasted some valuable 'escape time' on sleep. I gathered the files that I had brought down with me and got out of the car and locked it.

"Steph's looking for you," Tank said.

"Thought so," I said.

"Aurelia called her about 20 minutes ago to ask about you, and she realized you were gone," he said. Shit. If Aurelia knew I had left my bed, I wouldn't hear the end of it.

"Don't worry, Steph said you were asleep in your bed… which was closer to the truth than she could've guessed. You were sleeping, just not in your bed," Tank said on a smile. I gave him a shove and hopped to the elevator. Tank caught up with me and pushed the button for the 7th floor.

"Don't you need to be somewhere else?" I asked him. I was irritated because Tank had caught me.

"Nope, I promised Steph I'd deliver you to her personally."

Tank was really enjoying this way too much!

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"No."

"No?"

"No, I'm not going back to bed." Steph had managed to find me much quicker than I had expected and I hadn't finished the work that I had wanted to do. I felt outsmarted, and I didn't like that.

I had actually put some thought into my hiding place this time, hoping to have a few hours for work. Some things had come up that I wanted to look into. But in stead Steph had found me within 35 minutes. I was wrecking my brain, trying to find out how that was possible. Not many people knew of this room, and it was well hidden. Besides, I had scrambled the cameras again. But here she was, standing in the door, arms crossed over her chest.

"How about a compromise?" Steph asked. I just continued to look at her, not sure how to respond to that.

"How about you come back upstairs, but you continue working there for a while?" Hmm, not a bad compromise. I wasn't used to compromising, but realized that a relationship also meant compromising. And this compromise wasn't that bad. I would be more comfortable in my apartment than in this room. But it still felt like losing.

"Hmpf." Immature, I know. But I was trained to win, to never give up and to fight, so I had to swallow a lot of pride right now. Steph slowly walked over to where I was sitting on the floor and knelt down beside me, leaning her back against the wall for support. Turns out that the wireless network I had installed in the office was only available in this room if you sat in one particular spot on the floor. Go figure... She placed a hand on my uninjured shoulder and gently rubbed up and down. It felt soothing and I needed that. I was getting really fed up with being on sick leave. I was getting restless, felt like I was losing grip on my company, like I was out of control and out of the loop. I felt left out.

Steph gently tugged on my sleeve and I moved a little so I was sitting next to her with my back against the wall as well.

"You're getting frustrated, aren't you?" she asked softly while she was looking at me. I ran a hand through my hair and left it behind my head. I sighed and Steph placed her hand over my hand that was still laying on the floor next to her.

"Yeah," I finally said and gave her a small smile. She smiled back and gave my hand a small squeeze. We were both looking straight ahead again when a thought occurred to me and I snickered.

"There are times when I am so tired I feel like I can sleep for 2 weeks, but now that I have the time…" I removed the hand behind my head and gestured in the air, trailing off. Steph nodded in understanding and smiled too.

This actually felt really good, sitting shoulder to shoulder with her, holding hands. There was a quiet understanding between us that I had never felt with any other woman. I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed the back of it and our eyes met. She looked at me for a moment and then opened her arms. I didn't hesitate and moved into them. My legs were sideways over hers and my head was laying on her left shoulder, my forehead against her neck. Her left hand was making large soothing circles on my back, her right hand was going up and down my left arm. I closed my eyes and let go of my frustration, just enjoying this moment. She pressed a kiss on top of my hair.

"I love you," she whispered and my head shot up to look in her face.

"I love you," she repeated, smiling widely at me. There was no hesitation in her eyes, no reservation.

"I love you too," I said and hugged her close. Our lips met and after a minute or so we were rolling on the floor, kissing, hugging and smiling at each other.

"Don't you just wish you were in bed now?" Steph asked teasingly and I laughed. I grabbed the laptop and files that I had brought with me and we scrambled to our feet. I slung my arm around her shoulder and kissed her somewhere above her ear while we walked to the elevator together.

In retrospect I couldn't be happier that my Babe had found my hiding place.

**Chapter 38**

_Warning: sexual innuendo_.

"Ricardo Carlos Manoso, you get back in bed right now!"

I couldn't believe I was saying those words to a grown man without any sexual intention, but here I was, doing just that. Ranger growled something under his breath and I pointed my arm with straight finger towards the elevator. He seemed to hesitate for a second but then slowly hopped towards the elevator while I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud. He had looked like a kid that was caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. A very handsome one, though…

Ranger had been released from hospital 7 days ago, after Aurelia had managed to keep him there for 5 days, and we were back in his apartment. He was supposed to stay in bed for another 4 days, but it proved difficult to keep him there. Most of the bruising was gone, but the bullet wounds were still bandaged up and his lower leg still had a cast on it. Also, he still had a concussion and his ribs weren't completely healed yet. Because of the bullet wound in his shoulder, he couldn't use crutches, but since he wasn't supposed to leave his bed that shouldn't have mattered. However, every time I left the apartment for something, he would leave the bed and I had to search for him. The first two times I had found him in the apartment, once on the couch watching television and once behind his desk, checking up on email. But now that he felt much better, I had to search the whole building. After I had found him in his office this morning, I thought that I could safely go out for a moment to swing by the bond office since he had had his "exercise" for today. I was wrong, because after about 2 hours, Tank had called me to say that Ranger had showed up in the control room about 30 minutes after I had left, and had been working there ever since. Tank thought Ranger started to look tired, but Ranger had refused to go back upstairs, so in the end Tank had called me. And that was how I ended up standing in the control room, telling Ranger to get his pretty behind back upstairs. Most of the men on the floor avoided looking at me, probably trying real hard not to laugh out loud. Tank smiled and whispered "well done, Steph" when I walked past him to follow Ranger to the elevator. Tank loved to see Ranger getting pushed around because it was such a rare occurrence. I flashed him a smile back and then joined Ranger in the elevator to go back upstairs.

While the elevator took us back upstairs, I studied Ranger. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and black sweatpants and looked deadly attractive. He wasn't wearing anything under the sweatshirt and I had to control myself not to kiss the skin that was visible. Due to his injuries, we hadn't engaged in any sexual activity other than some serious kissing and my hormones were at peak performance. I was ready to jump him as soon as Aurelia would declare him 'fit for duty' again. I had slept at the apartment every night, cuddled up against him, enjoying the feeling of his body close to mine but also growing increasingly flustered because of the sexual tension that was always there. Yesterday, Ranger had made his first serious attempt to move beyond kissing and it had taken all my willpower to stop him. I hadn't wanted him to stop, but I reminded myself that I didn't want to be responsible for aggravating his injuries because we couldn't wait a few days. And in all honesty, I didn't want to have to explain anything to Aurelia, who came by every evening to check up on Ranger, much to his irritation.

As soon as I stopped in front of the door to his apartment to open the lock, Ranger started to nuzzle my neck. I knew he was trying to distract me so I wouldn't send him back to bed or tell Aurelia about his recent escape, but I was determined not to let him get away with it. However, it was hard to concentrate on that thought when he began to kiss my neck and his hands were roaming my body.

"Come to bed with me," he whispered in his most seductive voice while he moved his lips to the other side of my neck. Decisions, decisions…

"You've been a very bad man," I said breathlessly. I had intended to make it sound like I was berating him, but somehow it came out sounding very sexual. He has that effect on me.

"When I'm bad… I'm good," Ranger said in a low voice and pressed himself against me. I might have moaned a little…

And then his cell phone rang. Ranger cursed under his breath and I snapped out of my sexual haze. While Ranger answered it, I briefly wondered if this was a glimpse of what it would be like to be with the owner of a successful security business who is always on call, but decided that I would find that out later. Right now, he was on sick leave and he needed to get back to bed. While Ranger was talking on the phone, I gently pushed him into the apartment. Ranger hopped over the doorstep, but stopped after 3 hops. I closed the door behind me and pushed him again, and he started hopping in the direction of his desk. I managed to grab the back of his sweatshirt and pointed him in the direction of his bedroom while he threw me an angry glance over his shoulder. He stopped after a few hops and tried to change direction towards the couch, but I held on to his sweatshirt while he kept talking on his cell and steered him once again towards the bedroom. I had no illusion about my ability to really force him, even in this current weakened state, but realized that maybe even Ranger needed someone who could take care of him for a while. Who made a decision for him now and then, even if he didn't always agree at first glance. I think he deep down knew he had to take it easy for a few more days, but just didn't know what to do with himself. I simply provided that last push, quite literally at the moment, that he needed to allow himself to take time off. And even though he might have been able to work for a few hours a day by now, that didn't mean that I wasn't intend on spending a serious amount of time together with him before we both had to return to our jobs. He was getting stronger every day now, and I loved to be around him.

He was standing in the doorway leading to the bedroom, and had stopped hopping again. His way of showing passive resistance. I smiled and grabbed his hips and pushed him into the room. With every hop that got him closer to the bed, he was resisting a bit more, leaning back and taking smaller hops. When I had managed to get him next to the bed, I pushed him until he sat down on the side of the bed and then unzipped his sweatshirt and slid it down his arms, careful of his wounds. I pulled the sleeve over one hand and then held his cell to his ear while I slipped the second sleeve over his other hand and threw the sweater on a chair. He finally ended his telephone conversation and looked up at me.

"I don't want to go back to bed," was the first thing he said to me. Imagine this, Ranger was whining!

"I know," I said, but pushed him backwards until he was laying down with his feet over the edge on the floor. I pulled on his sweatpants and motioned for him to lift his hips off the bed so I could slide the pants down.

"I'm fine, I don't need to stay in bed all day," Ranger said again, but moved so I could pull his pants off which confirmed to me that he was actually somewhere deep down agreeing with me, but didn't want anybody to think of him as weak. I pulled the duvet back and motioned for him to scoot over and then covered him with the duvet. Ranger settled down with a sigh.

"I hate this, I'm fine," he said once more, but he made no move to get up. I think he was actually more tired of his 2 hour escape than he wanted to admit. I stretched out beside him, leaning on my elbows, facing him and kissed him softly on his lips and then gently caressed his hair while watching him. He looked at me with big brown eyes and I felt myself melt.

"Get some sleep," I said.

"Hhmmmm," Ranger said, sounding like a kid who knew his parents were right, but didn't want to admit it.

"I'll let you get up for dinner if you stay in bed until then," I bargained. It was a little after 2 and I figured after 4 hours of rest, he should be allowed some reward.

"Fine," Ranger grounded out.

"But don't think I'm going to suffer through this alone," he added and before I knew what was happening he had flipped me on my side and pressed against him, his arms keeping me close. He twisted me a little so he could look at me.

"Kiss me goodnight," he demanded with a mischievous grin and I was happy to oblige.

Needless to say it was some time before he actually fell asleep.

**Chapter 39: Searching and finding**

Warning: a little smut.

"Tank, I've lost him again. Have you seen him?" Ranger had managed to escape me once again, so I called Tank to see if he knew where Ranger was.

"Let me check the security cameras, Steph. One moment," Tank said and I could hear him typing, pulling up different feeds from different security cameras.

"He isn't in his office, and he isn't in the control room. Ehm… the security camera for the gym has been scrambled… You might want to start looking there," Tank said and disconnected. Great phone manners, these guys. But at least I knew where to start looking.

I took the elevator down and greeted Lester and Cal who just came out of the gym.

"Hi, have you guys seen Ranger?" Lester and Cal exchanged looks, and then looked back at the door to the gym.

"Ehm, nope," Lester said, but motioned discreetly with his hand towards the gym. I figured Ranger had told them not to give away his current hiding place, probably threatened to fire them or something, but Ranger didn't know that Tank and I had made a little arrangement. Tank had ordered the Rangemen to tell me where Ranger was, and Tank would make sure that nothing would happen if Ranger found out that they had been helping me in locating him. So far, the system had worked perfectly and he had never managed to escape me for more than 1 or 2 hours. Tomorrow was the last day of his forced bed rest, and if the hospital declared him fit for duty again, he would return to work next Monday. Today was Thursday, and I had great hopes for this weekend if Ranger was declared fit again. It involved lots of hot, sweaty sex and slow, tender lovemaking. I had even reserved a little cabin in the woods for this purpose and I would drive us there straight after the hospital visit. The last hour I had spent picking up some stuff from my apartment. I had told Ranger I needed some extra clothes, but my main goal had been to pick up some lingerie and sexy nightwear. When I returned, the apartment had been predictably empty and I had used that time to quickly pack some of his clothes for this weekend. I had called Ranger, but he hadn't answered his phone so I had called Tank.

When I softly opened the door to the gym, it seemed empty, but I heard the faint clicking of someone typing on a laptop. I walked into the gym and the clicking stopped. Ranger had seen me. I looked around and spotted him in the far corner behind the free weights. He sat on a mat, his back against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him. He was wearing faded blue jeans and a grey sweatshirt. Because he had one leg in a cast and bending forward was still painful for his ribs, he was barefoot and he was looking at me.

"Babe." It sounded pained.

"Ranger," I said. He closed his laptop with a sigh and pulled up one leg and it reminded me of someone who was digging his heels in the sand.

"Come on, back to bed," I said and held out a hand to him to pull him up. He placed the laptop beside him and he grabbed my hand. But instead of pulling him up, I was suddenly sprawled across his lap and he was kissing me. Intuitively I kissed him back, enjoying the sensual feeling and the hot passion, before something in the back of my brain told me that this was not what was supposed to happen. I withdrew from the kiss and placed my hands on his chest to create some leverage, but got lost in enjoying the feeling of his well shaped chest beneath the fabric.

"Copping a feel, Babe?" he asked with sparkling eyes and I felt the blush creep up. Busted.

"You're not supposed to be out of bed and you know it!" I tried to sound firm, but it wasn't easy with the hot looks that Ranger was sending my way. Suddenly, he rolled and I was trapped under him while he was kissing my neck and nibbling on my ears.

"Think of the things we could be doing right now, Babe… I scrambled the cameras, nobody will see… I want you…," he whispered hotly in my ear. That much was clear from the huge erection that was currently pushing against me. He moved a little to position himself between my legs and when he rubbed himself against me, lust got the better of me. I moaned and passionately kissed him. He released my hands and they slipped under his sweatshirt so they could touch his skin. I dug my fingers in his back to pull him closer and Ranger made a low growling noise. His hand was cupping my breast while the other one was tangled in my hair. I was reaching for his jeans when suddenly the door of the gym flew open and Ranger stiffened.

_Aurelia POV_

I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. Stephanie and Ricardo where laying on the floor, Ricardo on top. His sweatshirt was pulled up on his back and I could see his hand was under Stephanie's shirt. They were flustered and their expressions showed a healthy dose of frustration. Had I walked in 3 minutes later, I would have caught them in the act.

"Ricardo, why aren't you in bed?" I asked, trying real hard not to laugh. He just glared and Stephanie blushed.

"I'm laying down," was all he said.

"You're not resting," I retorted and he had no answer to that.

"Come on, up!" I said in my most authoritative voice and they scrambled to their feet. Stephanie grabbed a laptop that had been laying on the floor and Ricardo placed a hand on her shoulder to support himself while he hopped towards the elevator. The ride up was silent, with Ricardo glaring angrily at me, me trying not to laugh and Stephanie avoiding everybody's eyes.

Ricardo was probably fit for duty, he always healed fast. But I wanted to give him and Steph some time together. And okay… I loved pushing him around. In the apartment I only had to motion towards the bedroom and they meekly walked in. Awww… Stephanie helped Ricardo out of his clothes and I motioned for him to sit on the edge of the bed so I could check him. Tomorrow, he had an appointment at the hospital and I would check him for the last time. But because I had caught them off guard how, I figured I had a better chance of an honest answer from Ricardo now then when he was prepared for the probing.

I listened to his heart and lungs, which were sounding fine and took his blood pressure, which was slightly elevated. I attributed that to the activities that went on in the gym and decided, after looking at Ricardo's angry eyes, not to comment on that. I did some basic neurological tests and then looked at the bullet wounds. The stitches had been removed a few days ago and the wounds were starting to heal. They were still tender, but that was to be expected. His cast would be taken off tomorrow and if the bone was healing well, he would be fitted with a different cast or a splint. I motioned for him to lay down and felt around the side of his face where he got hit with the bat. Most of the bruising was gone, but you could still see the point of impact. I pushed quite hard on several areas, but he didn't seem to be in any pain. The last two things I needed to check were his knee and ribs. I moved his knee in every direction, but there was no resistance and the swelling was completely gone. The knee was a bit stiff, but that would disappear as soon as Ricardo started his normal workout routine again. Left his ribs. My guess was that he needed at least another week or two until the ribs were completely healed. I gently probed around the area, but Ricardo's face showed nothing.

"How are the ribs?" I asked him.

"Fine." His standard answer… and absolutely unreliable.

"Do you feel them when you breathe?" I asked.

"No."

"Not even when you breath deeply?" I pushed.

"No."

"Okay… Take a deep breath," I said, because I didn't believe him. I let him take several deep breaths, and could see some discomfort in his eyes. He took another deep breath and right when his lungs were full, I gently pushed against his ribs. His breath came out in a whoosh and he started coughing, instinctively turning on his side to protect himself from choking while his hand went to his ribs to support them. I waited until the coughing stopped and then looked at him.

"Don't lie to me, Ricardo. How are the ribs?" He gritted his teeth and remained silent for a moment, but then answered.

"Mostly they are fine…" I made a 'go on' gesture with my hand, and he continued.

"… but when I take deep breaths, or make sudden movements or bend forward, I feel them."

"Okay," I said. Inwardly I was smiling because I suspected that his reluctance to admit to any pain had to do with him being afraid I might not declare him 'fit for duty' tomorrow and would forbid any ehm… strenuous activities… including certain activities in the bedroom. And you only had to look at those two to know that they had the hots for each other. Little did he know that I had already decided to declare him fit for duty again tomorrow, and would tell him he just had to watch his ribs for a few more days but he would feel which moves would be the wrong ones…

Didn't I tell you I love to play with him?

_Ranger POV_

After Aurelia left, I sunk back in the pillow. I could still feel her little stunt with my ribs and wondered if it would have been better to just admit to the pain. I would have told any other doctor… Luckily my line of thinking stopped when my babe walked back into the bedroom. She sat down on the edge of the bed beside me and looked at me with worried eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered automatically and I immediately regretted my answer when I saw the irritation in her eyes. She deserved the truth.

"Babe… My ribs are a bit sore right now because of what Aurelia did, but they are healing fine," I said.

"Well, you deserved what Aurelia did," she said indignantly and I smiled.

"Will you give me a kiss to make it all better?" I asked and after a moment in which she obviously was trying to decide if I deserved that kiss, she leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips. But before I could take the kiss any further, she got up and moved out of my range.

"You need to rest," she said and then turned to leave the room.

"Won't you stay with me?" I asked and wiggled my eyebrows at her. She blushed, but stayed where she was.

"You aren't better yet," she said and left the room.

Damn Aurelia! Not only had she interrupted me when I finally had gotten Steph to give in to her desire to make love with me, she had also managed to scare Steph enough that she was staying out of my reach again. I wanted Steph so bad it was getting painful, so Aurelia had better declare me fit for duty again tomorrow!

With a frustrated sigh I turned on my side and tried to relax.

I did fall asleep, but dreamed of making love with Steph and woke up utterly frustrated.

**Turning up the heat**

_Interlude (between chapter 39 and 40)_

_Warning: SMUT SMUT SMUT (and no storyline… How bad of me… J_ _But if you're not into smut you can skip to the next chapter without missing anything…)_

It was around 3 o'clock at night and I was wide awake. My whole sleeping pattern was shot to hell because I spend so much time in bed doing nothing. In 5 hours I would get up to go to the hospital and get a final checkup and I couldn't wait until then. I had been watching Stephanie sleep in my arms for almost 43 minutes now. Her head was laying on my shoulder, a long arm across my chest, hand on my other shoulder. Her forehead touching my neck, a long leg thrown over mine. My arm was around her, slowly caressing her back, the other was laying on her elbow. I had managed to pull up the t-shirt that she slept in so I could touch her bare skin of her back. Her breathing was deep and even. I was contemplating waking her up, because I had been hard for her from the moment I woke up, which was a little over 45 minutes ago now and it was getting painful. I was thinking of ways to persuade her to make love with me, which didn't help much because my mind was now filled with images of naked Steph. I sighed and Steph moaned a little and shifted, but settled down again.

My hand gently grabbed her wrist and guided her hand down, towards my throbbing erection. I placed her hand on me and squeezed her fingers around me and almost moaned with pleasure. It wouldn't take much to make me explode, it had been that long and I was that turned on by her. Steph shifted again and her hand involuntarily squeezed me. Yes, oh yes... please… My hips moved so I was rubbing myself against her hand, feeling frantic with need. Steph moved a bit and squeezed me once more, but then moved her hand back up to my shoulder. No, no, noooo! I groaned in frustration and guided her hand back down.

"Touch me, Steph," I whispered and she moaned in response. She was waking up.

"Please…," I was practically begging by now. Her hand was around my erection again, and she made some uncoordinated stokes up and down, but just as I was on the edge, she stopped again. And then she really woke up. She stiffened for a moment, and then quickly tried to withdraw her hand, but I held on to her wrist.

"Ranger…?" she asked sleepily.

"Babe, please… Make me come…" I said breathlessly. She looked up at me and blushed at the fire she saw in my eyes.

"But your injur…," she started.

"I'm going crazy… please…" I interrupted her and kissed her passionately, pulling her on top of me. I didn't care about the pain in my shoulder, leg or ribs, I needed this release… desperately.

Steph answered my kiss with equal passion and I slipped a hand in her underwear and felt how wet she was for me. I growled in anticipation and tugged her panties down. I flipped us over so I was on top and a small groan escaped my lips because of the pain in my ribs and shoulder and Steph broke the kiss with worried eyes. FUCK!!!

Or more likely: no fuck.

I knew that look in her eyes, she would be all over me… but in a caring and nursing way and not in a hot and sexy way.

"Are you in pain?" she asked.

"I'm so hard for you it hurts," I said in a sexy voice and tried to distract her by kissing her neck. But she wasn't fooled and pushed me away so she could look in my eyes. I flopped back on my back and closed my eyes, rubbing my face with my hands, sighing in frustration.

"Babe, I'm fine… Really!" I emphasized that last bit, hoping to convince her. She still looked doubtful.

"I'm crazy for you, Babe. So crazy that it is getting painful. I need you… I want to make love with you… Please… just one time…" I stopped abruptly when I realized I was begging. Steph was blushing again. I was almost disgusted with myself, I sounded like a needy teenager. I had never felt so strong about a woman.. But then again, my Babe was a force of nature and she was currently getting a playful look in her eyes.

Uh oh…

"Promise me one thing," she said. Right now I was willing to promise her almost anything.

"Name it," I said.

"You'll let me do everything, so you won't aggravate your injuries," she said with a very naughty smile on her face. I felt myself harden even more and growled my promise. She moved over me on all fours and looked down at my face.

"Promise me, Ranger. Promise me you'll let me do… everything." That last past she whispered low in her throat and I almost came on the spot.

"I promise." My voice sounded strangled and she smiled her evil smile once more.

"Good," she said and then bend her arms so she could kiss me slow and deep. After long, delicious minutes she moved to kiss my cheek, jaw and ear. She gave my earlobe a playful bite and a sigh escaped me. She left a trail of kisses down my jaw and neck towards my shoulder and I shivered in anticipation. She kept kissing her path down, but not after she had played with my nipples, kissing, biting and sucking on them until I was moaning with pleasure. Part of me wanted to grab her hair to pull her head back up so this would never end and the other part wanted to push her head down so I would feel her lips around me. My fingers dug themselves in her hair and she chuckled as if she was sensing my conflicting thoughts. She kissed her way across my stomach and down to my abdomen. She made a wet trail towards my groin and I moaned in anticipation, but then veered of her path and continued with kissing my hip. I groaned in frustration and grabbed the sheet with my left hand. Steph just laughed her sexy evil laugh and continued her torture. Down my hip and across my thigh… getting closer and closer… She gave my throbbing cock a kiss and it jumped, …but then she moved off to my other hip. What the…?!

"Babe… no fair," I grounded out.

"Very fair, Ranger. I wouldn't want your right hip to feel left out…" she answered and I growled at her. Female logic… I had to use all my willpower not to take over the lead and sink my hard cock in her… repeatedly. Both my hands were clawing the sheets now and I was wriggling under her touch and kisses.

"Please…" I pleaded.

"Be patient, Ranger," she said while she used her nails to softly scratch up and down my thighs, closer and closer to home. I lifted my head up from the pillow and looked at her with hungry eyes.

"Fuck patient," I growled and she laughed.

"Good things… come… to those who… wait," she teased in between kisses and licks. I pulled a leg up, I couldn't help it, I had to move something.

"I've waited long enough," I grounded out. She continued her torture of almost touching me, and just when I thought I couldn't take it any longer, she placed her lips on my tip. I think I stopped breathing for a moment when she slowly licked her way down and up again.

"Oh… yeah… Slow, Babe," I sighed. She complied and placed slow openmouthed kisses all over me. She gently sucked on my balls and I bit my cheek to prevent myself from coming.

"Mmm…" I moaned. She licked her way back to the tip and then, ever so slowly, slid her lips around me. This was heaven. She gently sucked and my hips bucked.

"Easy… it's been so long…" I warned her. She responded by closing her thumb and second finger tightly around my base, buying me a little extra time. She moved me excruciatingly slow in and out of her mouth and I was writhing beneath her touch. My head was moving from side to side. She moaned and I felt the vibration. I was so hard… My erection throbbed painfully and I was going insane with need.

"Babe… please." I was begging. She chuckled and bit me gently. A loud moan escaped my lips. Suddenly her lips were gone and I almost whimpered at the loss. I lifted my head up from the pillow and found her looking at me.

"Ready, Ricardo?" she asked. To hear her say my name gave me goose bumps and I could only nod.

"Say it, Ricardo…" she teased.

"God, yes… Please… yes, I'm ready…" As soon as the words left my mouth, Steph reacted. One hand cupped my balls, gently squeezing them while her other hand was around my hard cock, squeezing and pumping up and down. I was in her mouth as far as she could take me and she was moving me in and out, increasing the speed with every stroke, her lips tight around me and her tongue swirling and rubbing. I felt my orgasm build and my hands fisted the pillow. My back arched and when she moved me in her mouth once again, the orgasm hit me… hard.

"Aaarrrggghhh!" I screamed while my hips were bucking and my whole body tensed. Steph stayed with me, pumping and milking me, bringing me to even greater heights until I was gasping for air and seeing stars. Just when I thought I might pass out, she finally slowed down. Her grip eased and with a final kiss she let me slip from her mouth. My breathing was labored and my heart was racing. This had been something else.

Steph stretched out and cuddled into my side.

"Wow," I whispered and kissed the top of her hair.

"You liked it?" she asked quietly and I grinned at her.

"Babe… I loved it. That was something else… But what about you?"

"Don't worry, my time will come" she said.

"I'll make sure of it," she added with a sexy smile.

"Good," I said. I shifted to get comfortable and winced a little at the pain in my ribs. They had been getting a pretty good workout, and were protesting.

"Are you okay?" Steph asked.

"My ribs are a little sore," I said. She looked guilty.

"Don't feel guilty, Steph. It's no big deal," I said, and she seemed to consider that for a moment.

"Besides, if you hadn't helped, I would've done it myself. I couldn't wait any longer," I added and she blushed. I chuckled.

"Seriously, Steph. Don't worry about it. I'm fine." She seemed convinced because she nodded and settled back down again, slowly drifting off to sleep.

I didn't sleep much anymore. My ribs protested with every breath I took and I couldn't get comfortable.

But damn, had it been worth it!

**Chapter 40: Sisterly pride**

I nudged Steph awake around 7.50 am. I love the way she makes little sounds when she is waking up, it is a big turn on. I gave her little kisses until she was completely awake, and then we shared some bigger kisses.

"Good morning, Babe," I said and smiled at her.

"Good morning, Ricardo," she said and smiled back. I love it when she says my name, even if it is the one I hardly use myself anymore. My family still uses it and I like it that Stephanie uses it.

"Sleep well?" I ask her, and she nods.

"You?" she asks and I nod, even though I didn't get much sleep after 2 o'clock. I had slept enough to last me a decade after these 2 weeks in bed, so I figured tonight didn't count.

"How are you feeling?" she asks, and I know she is referring to my ribs after last night's activities.

"I'm okay. Can't wait to go to the hospital and get it in writing," I answer her.

"To get Aurelia of your back?" Steph asks smiling, and I nod.

"Yeah, and the rest of the family." My mother calls me almost every day at the moment.

"How about me?" Steph finally asks the question she probably had wanted to ask in the first place. There is some uncertainty showing in her eyes.

"What about you?" I ask, to stall for time. I have certain ideas about my future with her, but I wanted to hear her view first.

"Do you want me of your back too?" she asks. I know she is really asking about our current living arrangements.

"Babe, you are always welcome here," I tell her and she smiles.

"Thanks. You're always welcome at my place, too," she tells me. Not that she could keep me out if she wanted, but it is nice to be officially invited for a change. I smile.

"Thanks."

_Aurelia POV_

"Steph, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure. Is everything okay with Ricardo?" she asks. I look up in surprise. This is the first time I hear her call my brother by his name.

"Yeah, Ricardo is fine. They've taken him for an x-ray of his leg and after they've seen the results they will either give him a cast or a splint. But that is not why I wanted to talk to you." I herd her into my office and grin at her. This is going to be a bit of a strange conversation, but I'm Ricardo's doctor and I need to tell her a few things. And I just love to tease anybody and everybody.

"I'm going to give Ricardo a clean bill of health when he returns here. He will probably need some physiotherapy for that leg, but other than that he is fine." Steph looks enormously relieved.

"There is one thing however that I wanted to talk to you about…" I wait a moment to make sure I have her full attention.

"Even though he is fit for duty again, his body is still healing, and especially his ribs. I noticed during the checkup today that between yesterday and today, he did something that irritated his ribs." I look at Stephanie, and she is blushing furiously. I already guessed what activity might have done the damage, but Steph's bright red face confirms it to me.

"I can understand the ehm… attraction between you two might make it difficult to minimize the uh… bedroom activities, especially since you guys took so long to get together, but I would recommend that you keep the level of those ehm… bedroom activities light for a few more days. No acrobatic stunts, no 'all night long' ehm… endurance activities for another week or 2. Ricardo is a trained soldier, he can simply block out the pain. So I'm counting on you here. I've told him to take it easy for a while, but I know him. He'll probably start his exercise routine at 6 tomorrow morning, even if it is a Saturday, just because he can. Whether it is comfortable or wise is something that will not matter to him." I look at Stephs beet red face and smile reassuringly at her.

"He'll be fine, really. But he needs to take it easy for a few more days, okay?"

"Okay," Steph answers.

"So, you guys are really together now?" I ask her and Steph's whole face lights up.

"Yes, we are."

"Good, I'm glad to hear it. I was running out of ideas on how to get you guys together." We share a conspiratory smile and I sit back, the official part over.

We talk about the upcoming weekend and Stephs' surprise for Ricardo to go away for the weekend until Ricardo hops back in, this time with crutches and a splint around his ankle. He hands me the documents that he received after he got his splint and I look them over. He has to keep the splint on for another 2 weeks and then contact his physiotherapist for further treatment. The x-ray shows that the fracture has almost healed. I make some notes in his file and then sign off.

"Well, that's it. You're a free man again."

"Finally," Ricardo says and I laugh. I bet he was looking forward to this moment from the minute he arrived in the hospital.

"Okay, you two. I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got to return to work." I hug and kiss them both and walk them to the exit.

I watch them walk over to the car and see how Steph says something to Ricardo. I imagine she is telling him about her plan to go away for the weekend and I can see Ricardo's smile even from this distance. Several women stop and stare… Some things never change, I suppose. Ricardo hugs Stephanie close and they share a passionate kiss. Looks like Ricardo's likes the plan. I suddenly realize that it is less than a month ago that Ricardo got sick and I vowed to myself to get him and Stephanie together and look at them now, so happy together.

While I watch them drive off together, I congratulate myself on a job well done.

The end!


End file.
